Resident Evil: Divide and Conquer
by EcoSeeker247
Summary: *Sequel to Resident Evil: Mistaken Identity* You'd think after being sucked into two games that my sister and I could handle anything, right? That nothing in Resident Evil could scare us anymore? Well, we were wrong. Dead wrong. Because we've been thrown into Resident Evil 6, and now, it's fight for our lives, or die trying in a world where there may be no hope left.
1. Our Lives

All right! So this is the first _Resident Evil _story I've written in a _long _time, as well as a story that people have been asking me about for a while. I don't know how many of you remember my other two main RE stories from about two years ago: "sucked into the game" stories for RE4 and RE5 featuring my OCs, Audrey and Alexis Fagan, **Resident Evil: The Other Side** and **Resident Evil: Mistaken Identity**. At the time I wrote those, I wanted to write a sequel to "Mistaken Identity", but I wasn't sure when another RE game was going to come out until _Resident Evil 6 _was released. I've had the idea of writing a third and final story with Audrey and Alexis for the last two years, but I was never able to do anything with it until now.

This is the first chapter of my newest story, which is pretty much a recap of what happened in the other two stories, so the action won't really pick up until the next chapter. My plan for this story is to try and include all three main campaigns in chronological order of the events as best as I can. I hope you all enjoy this, and let me know what you think! Without further ado, here is _Resident Evil: Divide and Conquer_! :)

**WARNING: **There will be spoilers from RE6 throughout this story!

**DISCLAIMER: **Only my OCs and plot ideas are mine. Everything else belongs to Capcom.

* * *

_**The skies above Africa, March 2009… **_

_The pain. It was too much, even for him. _

_Albert Wesker groaned as he clutched the side of his neck. This was the second time he had been injected with his own serum, the same serum that was supposed to keep everything under control. It was like a poison, coursing through his veins until he felt like he was burning. He was going to have to put the fire out if he wanted to still accomplish his goals. _

"_You're just another one of Umbrella's leftovers!" _

_Wesker growled at the taunting voice that had just spoken. It belonged to one of his greatest enemies that, in all honesty, should have been killed a long time ago, preferably back at the Mansion in the Arklay Mountains. He didn't know how the idiot had survived for this long, but he was going to get rid of him if it was the last thing he did. Being told that he was "another one of Umbrella's leftovers" only brought back painful memories of finding out he was one of the Wesker Children, just one of thirteen children raised by Ozwell E. Spencer to become an advanced race of humans. _

"_Estimated time until missile deployment: three minutes," a voice announced, and Wesker looked up as Chris Redfield faced the override lever in a pensive state, as if he was thinking about what to do next. _

"_You know what we have to do," another voice piped up in agreement, this time belonging to one of the two women accompanying Chris. What was her name again? Sheva Alomar? Then again, why did he care who she was? She was of no importance to him. Just another chaff to separate from the wheat. _

"_I'll go for the override lever," Chris announced, "Both of you, cover me." _

"_Roger!" the other woman cried, "Be careful." _

_And again, Wesker growled to himself at the sound of her voice as well. Although he hadn't known her for as long as he had known Chris, she was just as much of an enemy to him. He would never understand what Jack Krauser, one of his mercenaries, ever saw in her. In his eyes, she was an insolent traitor, and certainly not deserving of whatever human feelings Krauser may have had left. Although Wesker now viewed himself as being a god, he still knew the minds, feelings, and the inner workings of humans very well. _

_He picked himself up as Chris dashed towards the override lever. No! He wasn't going to allow Chris to foil his plans this time. He had gone for too long without succeeding. Now it was time for some payback. _

_Letting out another growl, Wesker began sprinting towards Chris, only to be stopped by a shower of bullets from his right, courtesy of Chris's two partners. He leaped out of the way, crawling on the walls and landing right next to Chris, who managed to pull the lever. By now, Wesker was furious. Normally, he would be able to keep his cool whenever Chris sabotaged his plans, but now that he was so close…_

"_You'll pay for that!" he snapped, but before he could do anything else, he stopped just as the lights in the jet shut off and emergency lights replaced those ones. The hatch in the corner opened up to reveal the night sky, causing a burst of air to enter the cabin and list the plane to the left. He heard a scream, but couldn't tell who it was as the force became too much and attempted to suck them right out of the jet. _

"_Hang on!" Chris shouted, but no matter how much he tried, Wesker couldn't do that. His boots slipped on the smooth floor, and he flailed his arms in an attempt to find balance. Even though he considered himself invincible in the long run, he still didn't think it would do him good to fall thousands of feet out of a plane. Granted, he had survived a plunge out of a window at the Spencer Estate (courtesy of Jill Valentine), but this was different. _

_Down below, Sheva managed to grab hold of a pole closest to the hatch, where she now struggled to keep herself from falling out of the plane. Chris remained by the override lever, watching the scene with an increasingly frantic expression on his face. _

_Wesker was still slipping, but just as he was about to completely lose himself and fall, he reached out and grabbed the closest thing he could reach. To his surprise, it wasn't a pole, but someone's hand, and when he looked up, he glared at the woman who had somehow won Krauser's…whatever he had for her. _

_Wesker could see the hatred in Audrey Fagan's eyes, and he knew it was intense hatred for him. She had a lot to hate him for: tricking her into working for him, sending someone to kill her after she wanted to leave, infecting her sister, Alexis, to use as a weapon against her, and possibly getting her killed as well. At least, Audrey thought she was dead. Wesker couldn't see how she would have been able to survive Excella Gionne's rampage back on the boat. Even though the four of them had, anyone else would have surely been a goner. _

_And now, Audrey was the only thing keeping him from falling back to the surface below. _

_Wesker gripped her hand, though she made no move to drop him or pull him back up. He could tell she was battling with herself over what to do with him. He could also try and drag her down with him, but he hoped she would remember who it was that had saved her in the first place. She still owed him for giving her the virus that enabled her to keep going with weaker versions of his powers. She had the gall to do a lot of the things she had done, but maybe what was really important would take root. _

"_So help me God," he hissed at her, "If you let go…" _

_Audrey backed up a bit, glancing over at Chris, who was staring at her with wide eyes. Ever since the truth about her alliance with Wesker, among other things, had been revealed back in the Monarch room, there had been distinct tension between the two. It wasn't without good reason, though; Chris had assumed since Audrey knew Wesker was alive that she had also known Jill was with him as well. _

_After locking eyes with Chris for a couple of seconds, Audrey nodded and turned back to Wesker, and he seemed to already know what was about to happen before she even did anything. He bared his teeth at her as he scrambled to hold on, but he was too late, for she loosened her grip, allowing his gloved fingers to slip out of hers with ease. His stomach zoomed up to his throat as he fell backwards, plummeting towards the open hatch and colliding with a pole in the process. _

_Wesker crashed to the floor, but just as he was about to fall thousands of feet, he reached out again and grabbed onto Sheva's leg this time. Unlike with Audrey, he had every intention of dragging Chris's other partner out of the plane this time. _

"_Get off me!" Sheva snapped, attempting to kick Wesker, but her efforts were futile. She found she was losing her grip on the pole that was holding her up, and when she met Chris and Audrey's gazes, she knew what she had to do to stop Wesker. _

"_Sheva, no!" Audrey cried, "Don't do it!" _

"_It's the only way," Sheva insisted, refusing to look at Chris's anguished expression, "It was an honor being your partner." _

_And with that, she let go of the pole, causing both her and Wesker to fall. This was the second time Chris was about to lose a partner to his old enemy, Wesker realized, and he couldn't help but smirk a little bit. Chris had failed to save Jill, and it looked like history was about to repeat itself. _

_Or was it? _

"_No!" Chris shouted, dropping down to grab Sheva's hand while Audrey went to grab his. Wesker looked up at all three of them, anger clouding the rest of his emotions. How could they all do this to him? How could they work together and actually think they could reject the new face of humanity? Couldn't they understand that Uroboros was the way to go? _

"_I'm taking the three of you with me!" he vowed, earning a kick in the face from Sheva. _

"_Like hell you will!" she snapped, pulling out her pistol and shooting him in the head, causing him to let go of her. _

_With that, Wesker finally plunged into the night, tumbling in the air as he fell, the wind whipping his hair all around him. He spread his hands and legs out to create some drag for himself, wondering where he would land, and if he survived, how he was going to get rid of Chris, Sheva, and Audrey once and for all. _

* * *

_**Real world- Maryland, Present Day…**_

_Bam! _

Despite the fact that I was wearing protection over my ears, I still flinched at the sound of a pistol being fired next to me. I figured it was because I hadn't expected it to happen so suddenly. I was used to hearing gunfire by now, though, and I was honestly surprised I hadn't gone deaf from all that-and more-a long time ago.

With that, I fixed my ear muffs, raised my own pistol, aimed it at the target up ahead, and pulled the trigger.

"Nice job, Audrey! For a newbie!"

I glanced over to my right as my best friend, Chelsea Perkins, smiled at me and grabbed another box of ammunition. She quickly loaded some more bullets into her gun and aimed at her target again, finishing another round before reloading. I did the same, and soon, it became a competition of who could fire off the most rounds in a given period of time.

"Thanks!" I thanked her, "You're not bad yourself…for a newbie."

Chelsea pretended to pout, which made me laugh as I shrugged. "Sorry," I joked, "I couldn't come up with anything more original than _newbie_. How about Miss I Thought You Didn't Want to Learn How to Shoot a Gun?"

Chelsea chuckled as well. "And you say you don't like to joke around. Well, ever since _you _and your sister wanted to learn, so did I. I think it's important to know how to defend ourselves in case something happens. Thank God we've never had anyone try and kill us, you know?"

I hesitated in answering her at first before deciding to go with a safe response of, "Right, but it's good to be prepared. You never know when some psycho will make an appearance. And speaking of which…" I looked around at the indoor shooting range.

"Alexis has been gone for a while now," I noted, "I thought she was just going to get some supplies from the car."

"I'm sure she's fine," Chelsea assured me, "You know how long it takes to walk through that wooded path."

"Yeah, but _this _long? And with crappy cell phone service on top of it? I'm going to check on my sister. I'll be right back."

And before Chelsea could say anything else, I put the rental pistol down and exited the building, taking a deep breath as the brisk, autumn air blew in my face. Orange, red, and yellow leaves fell from the trees and landed at my feet, and I heard the crunching of my boots as I entered the small woods heading to the parking lot. My fingers hovered over the pocket where my switchblade resided. I had been carrying it around with me for the last two years now, and although I seriously doubted I was going to be attacked at this very moment, I never let my guard down. As much as Chelsea and I had joked around back in the shooting range, I knew in my case, there was a lot of truth to her words.

What I also hadn't told her was that I was no amateur when it came to armed combat. I could have easily explained to her where I got all my experience, but that was a story I knew she wouldn't believe. Hell, I had lived it and even _I _still didn't believe it sometimes. Nobody knew except for Alexis, and for now, we both preferred to keep it that way. For the time being, I had decided to go to the shooting range every now and then for the last two years to practice so that I wouldn't lose everything I had learned.

I continued to walk on the path, taking note of the woods around me as I pulled my hood over my head. It wasn't too far now, thank God, but I just wanted to make sure Alexis was okay. _I'm sure she's fine, _I told myself, and after a while, I believed it. Alexis could take care of herself. She had done so in the past.

The clearing was just up ahead, so instead of walking, I began to run. My brown hair flew in my face, and I pushed the loose pieces down the whole time I sprinted. "Alexis!" I called out, stopping to see if I would get an answer. When I didn't, I picked up the pace again, running until I finally made it to the parking lot.

"Alexis!" I repeated, finding my older sister standing by our car as she fiddled with her cell phone. She frowned as she held it up in the air-in an attempt to get some service, I assumed.

"Audrey!" she gasped, glancing in my direction as she jumped a little bit, "You scared me! What are you doing back here? I thought you and Chelsea were practicing."

"And we thought you were getting supplies," I replied, "What's going on?"

"I _was _getting the rest of our stuff out of here," my sister explained, "But then Mom and Randy tried to call me, and I can't get any service. In the little bit I had, they said they had something they needed to tell us when we got home."

"Like what?"

Alexis shrugged and then faced me with a look of concern in her eyes. "Anyway, that's the reason I was taking so long," she said, "You don't have to worry about me. I'm fine."

"I know, I know," I replied, "But I still get worried sometimes when I don't hear from you for a while."

Alexis smiled weakly, wrapped her arm around my shoulder, and began to usher me back to the wooded path. "I know," she repeated, "But we're strong, little sis. We're survivors, and you know I'll never just disappear again."

I gave her a smile in response, and I moved my hand away from the switchblade pocket and allowed it to relax at my side. Maybe she was right. Maybe I really didn't have anything to worry about. It was normal to be concerned about my sister if I didn't hear from her in a while, right?

For me, things were a little more complicated than that. More like these last three _years_ were complicated. For all intents and purposes, we were damn near lucky to be breathing right now after everything we had been through.

It had all started three years ago when I decided to venture into the wonderful world of _Resident Evil. _Looking back now, perhaps I should have started from the first game instead of halfway into the series. Then half the things we had gone through would have never occurred.

Anyway, _Resident Evil 4 _was where it all began. _Resident Evil 4._ One of the most critically acclaimed games of 2005, as well as in the series itself. I had heard so much about it, and even though I hadn't known much about the games, I had decided to buy it anyway.

Biggest mistake of my life.

Instead of playing the game like any normal person would, I ended up living it. Long story short, I gained an infection from a special virus that was given to me and made enemies like Albert Wesker. Anyone who knew about Albert Wesker would know it was not a good idea to get on his bad side. Well, I had, and I had paid for it in more ways than I cared to remember.

_Resident Evil 5 _was no better. That time, Alexis had gone with me, and unfortunately ended up in Wesker's hands, something I still felt guilty about to this day. There was a point where I thought I had lost her for good, and ever since then, I vowed to myself that I would never let anything like this happen to her again. So far, we had done well staying away from everything to do with _Resident Evil_. We already had to deal with our respective viruses without getting thrown back into another adventure.

Ironically, getting sucked into two _Resident Evil _games had also been where I became trained in armed combat. I took out my wallet, where I flipped through the slots holding my credit cards and other identification until I found the one I still carried around with me to this day.

"You still carry that thing around?" Alexis asked, peering down at my wallet as I took out my Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance identification.

"I guess it's just a part of me now," I answered, holding it up as I stared at the picture of myself, "Now let's get back before Chelsea thinks we've _both _run off."

* * *

"So did you guys hear about the latest _Resident Evil _game that just came out?" Chelsea asked excitedly once we were on our way back from the shooting range.

I glanced at Alexis as she returned the look out of the corner of her eye, not taking her eyes off the road in front of us. "Bits and pieces," I said, "Apparently there are three campaigns?"

"You got it!" Chelsea chirped, "Chris Redfield, Leon Kennedy, and newcomer Jake Muller! And I've gotta say, Jake is _smokin_'!"

Alexis and I laughed. "That good looking, huh?" Alexis teased, "So who's Jake Muller? I've never heard of him before this game."

I glanced over my shoulder as Chelsea leaned back in her seat. "A mercenary of some sort," she explained, "I don't know much else about him, though. I've avoided all trailers and demos. I want to be surprised when I start playing the game."

"Wait, you have it already?" I questioned.

"Preordered and bought!" Chelsea reported happily, "While you're home from college for the weekend, Audrey, you and Lexy should stop by so we can play it! We can do co-op and everything!"

I shared a glance with my sister again. Like Chelsea, we had heard a little bit about _Resident Evil 6_, but we were not invested in it at all. Not after what had happened to us with the previous two games. Plus, I was busy with college, and Alexis was focused on her full time job as a receptionist at the local doctor's office.

"Come on," Chelsea pressed, "You know you want to. It'll be fun!"

"Oh, I don't know," I responded, pretending to hesitate, "What if we get you killed and get a bad score? That happened to our cousins with _Resident Evil 5_!"

"I don't care. It's our first time playing the game. We're bound to die a million times."

"True," Alexis conceded, "But still…we don't really like those games anymore."

"At least _think _about it," Chelsea said once we finally got to her house and dropped her off, waving to her as she opened the door and went inside. Alexis then put the car into drive and began to head back towards our house.

"So what do you think?" she asked, "Should we risk everything and play _Resident Evil 6_?"

I hesitated at first. Like my sister, I had my reservations about diving back into that series.

"I say no," I decided, "The last time I suggested we play a _Resident Evil _game, you almost got killed. I'm not going to let that happen again."

"But it won't," Alexis insisted, "I know you don't feel comfortable with the idea, but it's been two years now. We can't let that stop us from living. We've been doing all right so far, and even though Wesker's dead now, this is only making him still win in a way. Besides, you've shown me how strong you are. You were able to break away from Wesker's influence, and I don't just mean when you decided to stop working for him. I didn't let him infect me with Uroboros, either."

"I guess so," I said, "But what if it happens again, you know? Getting sucked into the game?"

Alexis didn't have an answer for that, but she only shrugged as she made a left turn. "It only seems to be the two of us that are affected. Maybe if we don't play it, we won't get sucked in. I doubt anything will happen to Chelsea. Trust me, Audrey, everything's going to be fine. You'll see."

* * *

And that was the story of our lives for the past two years. For the most part, we were all right, except for the fact that we still had nightmares of our adventures every so often. Alexis still wouldn't touch champagne after nearly drinking a glass of it that had been laced with the Uroboros virus. We weren't sure what would have happened to her, since she had been given a full blast of the original Progenitor virus, but we wouldn't take any chances.

Soon, we made it home, and I wondered what Mom and Randy had to tell us. We jumped out of the car and hurried into the house, where we found our mother and stepfather waiting for us in the living room, along with our cat, Jack.

"Hi, girls!" Mom greeted, hugging us both before we went over to hug Randy, "Back already?"

"Yeah," Alexis said, pulling away, "You won't believe how many people were there today! I guess everybody wants to learn how to shoot a gun now."

Although our parents still didn't know about our _Resident Evil _adventures, they knew about our frequent trips to the shooting range. Surprisingly, they hadn't been bothered by our decision to become members of that place. "You two are adults now," Randy had told us, "Whatever you want to do is up to you."

"So what did you want to tell us?" I asked while we all took seats on the couch.

Mom and Randy took a deep breath as they held each other's hands. "Your father called before while you were out," Mom announced, "He'll be arriving in Maryland tomorrow and he wanted to visit us."

My mouth dropped open in shock, and I could see my sister was surprised as well. Out of all the things were expecting, that wasn't one of them. Even though I was thirteen when Mom and Dad originally got the divorce, we still kept in regular contact with him. In fact, the last time we had seen Dad in person was at my high school graduation before he had gone away on another business trip.

"Wow," Alexis finally whispered, "It's been so long since we've seen him. Is he on another break?"

"He said he is," Randy answered, "And he figured while he was in town, why not visit? You two are okay with that, right?"

I remained tongue-tied for a few seconds before I asked, "What about you? Are you okay with it, Randy?"

Randy waved his hand nonchalantly. "I've told you, I don't have a problem with it as long as you two don't," he assured us.

"And it's just a brief visit," Mom added, "He just wants to stop by for dinner."

I rested my chin in my hands. Not that I had an issue with my biological father visiting us. In fact, I was looking forward to seeing him after such a long time! It was just that after adjusting to having Randy in the house, this was throwing me for a loop.

"Are you okay, Audrey?" Randy asked, frowning as he pressed his hand against my forehead, "You feel a little clammy now."

"I'm fine," I said, looking up at him, "It's just…with our father visiting…I don't want you to think I hate you again."

"That's ridiculous," Alexis spoke up, "He's not going to think that! Are you, Randy?"

"Of course not!" Randy insisted, "I know we had our…problems in the beginning, but everything's been smoothed out. And your father and I get along very well. Trust me, you have nothing to worry about."

* * *

_**Later on that night…**_

"Yay, you guys made it!" Chelsea cheered as soon as she opened the door to her house, "Step right in! Everything's almost ready!"

_I can't believe we're doing this right now, _I thought, entering the living room as Alexis followed closely behind me. It was like she had said; if we didn't actually play the game, maybe we would be safe. But I had to admit that I was a teeny bit curious about _Resident Evil 6_. I was still trying to get my mind off the fact that my father was coming to visit. I would never admit that to Chelsea, though.

"What are you doing?" Alexis asked, nodding at the screen as our friend picked up the Xbox360 controller again and began twirling the left analog stick.

"I don't know if this game picked a campaign for me already," she said, frowning, "But it's making me play as Leon. Here, look."

We cautiously stepped forward, which made her laugh. "What's _with _you guys?" she questioned, "You can move a little closer. You're not gonna get sucked into the game."

I started laughing while Alexis just glanced at me with a big grin on her face. "Right," I replied, "Not gonna get sucked in. You're right." We moved a little closer in time to see what Chelsea was talking about: right now, she was playing as Leon Scott Kennedy as he flew a helicopter dangerously close to a few buildings with signs lit up in Chinese characters.

"Leon!" I cried.

Chelsea nodded as she finished the quick time event and the helicopter narrowly missed crashing into the ground. "Yep," she confirmed, "And his new partner, Helena. You know about Leon Kennedy, right? Rookie cop who survived Raccoon City and investigated Las Plagas in Spain?"

"Yeah, we know about him," I quipped, allowing a small smile on my face. _I also know him personally, _I added to myself.

Still, I couldn't get over how different he looked. Granted, he _was _older than when I had joined him in Spain, but his face looked more set in anger, he had a slight stubble, and I could have sworn his blonde hair was slightly darker as well. I didn't know who Helena was, but I was sure I would find out more about her.

The scene in the game ended just as Leon and Helena barely managed to escape being crushed by part of the helicopter that had crashed through the roof. "_You all right?_" Leon asked.

"_Yeah,_" Helena replied, and Chelsea quickly guided the two of them into the next room. I found myself holding my breath, wondering what would happen next in spite of myself.

After making Leon jump down to the level below, the game switched to a cutscene where something suddenly leaped down to the ground. Something we couldn't see.

"_Back for more?_" Leon growled before the scene ended.

"Oh, okay," Chelsea said, "That was just the introduction. Now the _real _game starts. I'll be right back, okay? Pick any campaign you want."

And before we could say anything, she got up and quickly left the room.

"Chelsea, come back!" I shouted, but she disappeared.

"Oh, God," Alexis groaned, "Why did she have to leave us with the game?"

"Let's just quickly press Start and then back away slowly," I suggested, inching my hand forward slowly, "Get it over with now before the game starts itself."

"_Be careful,_" Alexis warned, and I nodded. Just a little bit further, and I'd be able to press Start with no problems. Closer…closer…_closer…_

"Ouch!" I gasped as I suddenly felt a painful shock in my finger after barely touching the button. It was as if I had been struck by lightning, which caused me to stumble back and knock into Alexis.

"Audrey!" she shouted, but let out a gasp as well as my back collided into her, knocking the wind out of her as we both crashed to the floor.

"Chelsea," I choked, but before I could have time to wonder if she had heard us fall down, everything faded to black around me.

* * *

The first sensation that hit me when I finally came to was the bitter cold.

A sharp, forceful wind blew through my hair as I groaned and opened my eyes, taking note of the fact that I was lying on a wooden floor. A thin layer of snow covered the ground, and I even found myself brushing some snow off of me as I sat up and looked around. I was in a dilapidated cabin, where a broken window was situated to my left, bringing in the wind and blowing snow from outside. I shivered. The outfit I was wearing was unfortunately not appropriate for these conditions, for I only had jeans, my boots, and my hooded sweatshirt. This was definitely not like the previous two times I had landed in the _Resident Evil _universe. Part of me was thankful I hadn't ended up next to a monster like the Regenerator, but the other half was wishing this was all just a nightmare.

Groaning, I sat up, wiping some melted snow out of my hair next. Why now? After two years of being free from this hell, I was thrown right back into it. Wait…

"Alexis?" I called out, looking around as the strong wind and snow were the only things that responded to me. If I had ended up here, did that mean she had as well? The last time we went into _Resident Evil 5_, we had been separated. Would it be the same this time?

"Alexis!" I repeated, standing up and trying not to let my teeth chatter. I pulled the hood over my head and lengthened the drawstrings until my face was completely covered by the hood. It wouldn't completely defend me against the elements, but I had survived worse conditions than this.

I heard the wood creak under my boots as I walked through the cabin in order to find my sister. If she was here, she couldn't have gone far. At least, I hoped not, anyway.

"There you are!"

I sighed with relief as I found Alexis in the next room, sitting in front of a fireplace as she warmed her hands.

"I was just about to come and wake you up," she said, "I managed to just get this started. Here, sit by the fire."

I slowly sat down next to her and held my hands out as well. It was still far too cold in this cabin, but the little fire we had was good enough for now.

"When…when did you wake up?" I asked, shivering.

"A little while ago. Can you believe we ended up back here again?"

I scoffed as I continued to try and warm myself for the time being. "Not at all," I said, "I _knew _going to watch Chelsea play _Resident Evil 6_ was a bad idea."

"Well, we're here now, so we might as well try to make the best of it. Besides, I still owe you for risking your life for me in Africa."

I shook my head and offered her a small smile. "Really, it was nothing," I insisted, "You know I would never let anything happen to you. I'm just sorry I couldn't save you from Wesker sooner."

My sister waved her hand, and we sat in silence for a few more minutes as we contemplated our situation. Neither of us were really surprised we had somehow ended up back here, but I knew there was something that kept nagging me: Albert Wesker was dead. We had helped Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar kill him back in Africa, so what were we doing back here? What was happening now that the man who had given us a lot of grief was gone?

"Well, first things first," I piped up, "We need to figure out where we are."

"I had a look around when we first woke up," Alexis reported, "Through the broken window in the other room. We're in a cabin in the middle of the woods. There must have been a blizzard recently, too."

"Why didn't you wake me up right away?"

"I just wanted to get a sense of the place. There was no need for both of us to panic, and I didn't go too far. Just in the next room and the one we woke up in. Besides, after that nasty shock you got from Chelsea's controller, you needed to rest a little longer."

"Still, you should have let me help you. We need to find a nearby town and see if someone there can help us."

Alexis nodded grimly, and we spent a little more time warming ourselves before putting out the fire and getting up from the ground.

* * *

The minute we stepped outside, I wanted to turn around and return to the warmth of the fireplace, but I knew we had to keep going. So far, all we could see around us were dense trees, and my eyes began to hurt from the bright white of the snow, despite the fact that the sky was a bright blue. Some stray flakes fell in our faces, and we spent most of the journey looking down at the ground to avoid getting it into our eyes.

"Jesus, it's cold," Alexis whispered, wrapping her arms around her sweatshirt-clad figure, "Maybe once we get into town, we can find a store and buy heavier jackets. Granted, we don't know if there even _is _a town close to here…"

We fell silent, huddling close together to combat the cold. I had been close to freezing to death once before when I had fallen into a lake back in Spain, but this was way worse. We didn't know if we were even heading in the right direction, but it was better than staying in that cabin the whole time.

"Just think, little sis," Alexis spoke up again a few minutes later, "At least we're together this time."

I laughed as I felt another shiver go down my spine. "I'm glad we're not separated this time, either," I agreed, "I guess that'd be too cliché."

"Saddler would have thought so, anyway. Not that _he _didn't turn out to be a big cliché himself in the end…"

We both chuckled as the wind continued to whip falling snow from the trees into our faces. This forest just seemed to go on endlessly, but we doggedly made our way through the trees.

It seemed like forever before Alexis finally perked up and nudged my shoulder. "Audrey, look!" she cried, "A clearing!"

I followed her gaze and saw she was right. There was a bright patch just up ahead, and with even more determination, we picked up the pace and sprinted towards it. Sure enough, the forest was ending, leaving nothing but a mountain range to our right and an empty road to our left.

"Well, at least there's this," I said, "This road must eventually lead to a town. But the only question is, which way do we go?"

"Back there is the forest, and if this road parallels the woods, going back the way we came will just send us back where we started. I say let's go this way and see what we can find."

"Look for signs of life, too. Or _any _sign, for that matter."

Now we ran, and the further we traveled, the more we began to feel hope that we would be able to find something. Maybe the game was trying to help us out somehow, with the way everything was falling into place, but we wanted to figure this out on our own.

Although we had no idea what time it was, we realized it had to be sometime in the afternoon, for temperatures were slowly dropping. Suddenly, out of nowhere, I heard what sounded like engines coming from behind us. "You hear that, Alexis?" I whispered.

Alexis glanced over her shoulder and gasped. "Military trucks!" she cried, "And they're driving towards us. Maybe someone there can help."

"Is it our military?" I asked.

"I don't know, but all we can do is ask. Come on." We stepped back and waited for the first truck to pass, and I gasped as I took in the large tanks and other artillery. I was used to sights like this from my days in the BSAA, but these ones seemed much more massive. On the side, I could make out a red banner with a black spider outlined in yellow right in the middle. Underneath the spider was a motto that read, "_La Vita Nuova._"

"Excuse me!" Alexis shouted, and I watched as she flagged down the first truck, which hit the brakes and stopped right next to her. The driver poked his head out the window and frowned while Alexis cleared her throat.

"We're sorry to bother you," she said, "But my sister and I are lost and trying to find our way to the closest town. Do you think you could help us?"

The man coughed, his frown deepening as he opened his mouth and began to speak to us in a language that sounded a lot like Polish. Or was it Russian? Slovak? Czech? Another Slavic language like those ones? A mix, perhaps?

I shook my head, noticing the harsh tone he was using. My guess was that he was saying something that wasn't particularly helpful or nice. Alexis must have picked up on it too, for she was stepping back and putting her hands up in the air.

"Okay, sorry," she apologized as she took a step back. The driver of the truck was reaching for something next to him when his passenger spoke to him in the same language, waving his hand dismissively at us and instead pointing up ahead. Maybe he was saying not to worry about us and that they had to keep moving. I watched as the man put the truck into drive and began to resume traveling once again, the long line of other trucks and tanks following closely behind.

"Now what?" Alexis asked, but I held a hand up to silence her as I waited for the end of the line. The very last vehicle to pass us was a truck similar to the one Alexis had stopped, and I quickly checked to make sure nobody was watching. Good, they weren't.

I wordlessly grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the back, which was open. I climbed in first and then helped her next, and we crashed to the floor after we hit a bump in the road.

Alexis laughed quietly. "Hitchhiking, huh?" she whispered.

"You better believe it," I replied, hoping that wherever these soldiers were going was somewhere we could easily navigate.


	2. Welcome to Edonia

Here we go! Next chapter is here! A big thank you to everyone who's read, reviewed, favorited, and alerted this story so far! I'm pretty excited to write it, and I hope everyone enjoys it! :)

**DISCLAIMER: **Only my OCs and plot ideas are mine. Everything else belongs to Capcom.

* * *

About an hour and a half had passed after we decided to hitch a ride in the back of the military truck, and we still tried to guess where we were and where we were going.

"Maybe we're somewhere in Eastern Europe," Alexis deduced, "The men before were speaking some sort of mix of languages. I was thinking Polish and Czech. Or maybe even Serbian. Actually, I think it's Serbian or Croatian."

"I think so, too," I whispered in agreement, "Let's just see where these guys are going first."

The truck continued to plod along, and after another thirty minutes, we felt it slow down yet again, eventually screeching to a halt and pitching us forward. "What's going on?" I whispered.

Alexis craned her neck and examined the scene before us, peering through the windshield up ahead while keeping herself hidden. "Looks like some kind of checkpoint," she said, "All the trucks are stopped. And I think I see a town off to the right."

Neither of us were sure how long we were going to be sitting here, so we resorted to trying to figure out what town we were near. Better yet, what _country _we were in. If the banners I had seen before wasn't enough of an indicator that this didn't appear to be the United States, I didn't know _what _was.

Suddenly, the back of the truck-which we had pulled shut behind us after climbing in-burst open again, the door sliding up and exposing us to the bitter cold once more. _Damn it, _I thought, _Does someone want us to get frostbitten? _

"You two really thought you were being slick, didn't you?" a harsh voice asked in English, without the trace of an accent, "Do we look like a God damn cab service to you?"

We whipped our heads up at the sound of the voice in time to see a man dressed in black from head to toe. A hood covered his head, and a piece of cloth hid most of his face, only exposing his blue eyes. In a way, he reminded me of the Merchant, except he didn't have any weapons strapped to his back. I realized this was the same man who had placated the driver when Alexis had flagged him down earlier.

"How…how'd you know we did this?" Alexis asked as I frowned.

"A rearview mirror goes a long way, sweetheart," the man answered, "You two oughta pay us for giving you a ride."

"_Sweetheart?_" I hissed, "Who the _hell _do you think you are?" Alexis threw her hand up in front of me to keep me back, though I could see she looked incensed as well.

"Listen," she started in a much calmer voice, "We're just trying to find our way around here. Can you help us or not?"

The man chuckled. "Sure, I can help ya," he replied, gesturing with his hand, "Pay up, or get out of the truck."

"_What?_" I fumed, "You've gotta be kidding me!"

"You just said you're not a cab service," Alexis reminded him, "Who _are _you guys, anyway?"

Before the mysterious man could answer, we heard someone shout at him in the same language from before. He replied quickly before facing us again.

"Guess I won't be making any extra cash today," he said, pointing his thumb over his shoulder, "So take a hike. Both of you."

I glared at him. "Gladly," I hissed, climbing out of the truck and seeing that Alexis was right about the town. Although I was more curious to see where these men were going, I refused to put up with this guy who was only concerned about money.

Right as my feet touched the snow-covered ground, I glanced over at the man's holster and spotted a handgun, which made me surprised that he hadn't tried to shoot us. _Shit, _I thought, _These men have all these weapons, and this guy kept asking for money. Does that mean…_

"You're a mercenary, aren't you?" I realized, "This whole group is a mercenary group, isn't it?"

"Maybe," the man said, "Maybe not. Besides, if I don't kill ya, the cold will." He then began to walk away, but not before I caught him muttering something to himself under his breath.

"This new energy booster better be fuckin' worth it."

* * *

_**Ten minutes later…**_

"That went well," Alexis piped up in a sarcastic tone once we actually made it into town.

I just laughed. "For a short time," I replied, "But really, that guy was such an asshole. I'm just glad he didn't kill us."

"I wonder where he and his mercenaries were going. Too bad we'll never find out, eh?"

I was about to respond when I suddenly picked up the strong scent of smoke, and I had to cover my nostrils to keep myself from breathing it in.

"Oh, God," I groaned, "Do you smell that?"

Alexis nodded, coughing as well. "Where there's smoke, there's fire, right?" she asked, "Look!"

I moved closer to her and followed her gaze, gasping at the sight before us. My sister was right; there was a tall plume of smoke billowing just up ahead, but where was the fire coming from? What was going on?

The roar of a helicopter greeted our ears, and we ducked down as a chopper flew right us. Once the helicopter passed, things quieted down until we heard distant gunfire and other explosions.

"Oh, _no,_" I sighed, "Don't tell me we landed right in the middle of another freaking _war_!"

Alexis surveyed the scene just up ahead. "I think we did," she said in a grim tone, "But I can't imagine what could be happening now. I mean, Wesker's gone, right?"

"Right!"

Still, I couldn't believe this. We could never have a peaceful existence in this universe, could we? Then again, this wouldn't be a game if everything was working out just fine.

_Boom! _Out of nowhere, a truck appeared and began to rock back and forth, listing dangerously to the left before moving to the other side. "Oh, _shit_!" Alexis cursed.

Up ahead were a few tanks of gasoline, and my heart beat faster as I grabbed my sister. "We've gotta go!" I cried, "_Now_!"

"_What? _Why?"

"Move!" I pushed her off to the side, and she tumbled to the ground as I did the same. We were just rolling on the dirt and snow-covered road as the truck tipped over and slid right into the tanks.

_BOOM!_ "AHH!" Alexis screamed as the vehicle went up in flames and sent debris flying everywhere. We ducked and covered our heads until the assault was over, not moving an inch until the explosions died down. It was torture to wait, but wait we did, and after what felt like forever, things got quiet again until we could only hear the gunfire in the distance.

"You okay?" I asked as we stood up and brushed some ashes off our clothes.

"Yeah," Alexis replied, "Damn it. What the hell just happened?"

"We almost got blown sky high, that's what happened! Come on."

We jogged away from the burning truck, and on the way, my hood slipped, allowing the wind to ravage my hair. Now that that was over, I had the chance to look around while I placed the hood over my head again.

Tall buildings surrounded us, though some of them looked worn down not unlike in the Pueblo and Kijuju. Many had bricks missing, and we could see nothing but a mix of snow and ashes on the pavement.

"Let's go this way," Alexis suggested, pointing to the left up ahead, and we began running through the streets again. All the signs were in the same language we had heard before, which confirmed our original theory that we had landed somewhere in Eastern Europe. The only question was, _where_?

* * *

_**Hours later…**_

The gunfire seemed a lot louder than it should have been, and I looked up in order to discern where it was coming from. To my horror, I noticed men with guns running around, and some of them had masks covering their faces. They didn't seem to take notice of us, though. Instead, they were opening fire on something-or rather, someone-else.

"Who are these guys?" I whispered.

"I don't know," Alexis responded, "Some of the ones we tried to hitch a ride with before? They look similar."

We remained hidden as we watched the unfolding battle in front of us and tried to figure out a way to get around it without getting caught in the crossfire.

"Audrey!" Alexis suddenly hissed, grabbing my arm, "Did you see that? That soldier over there just _mutated_!"

"No way!" I gasped, but sure enough, something was bursting out of the man's shoulder, forming a new arm that pulsed vigorously not unlike Krauser's mutation. But Krauser's arm had been created from Las Plagas, whereas this one looked much different.

"_What the hell?_" I spat, "What virus is that? That doesn't look like any of the ones we've seen!"

"I don't know," Alexis quipped, "And I don't want to find out. Come on."

But before we could flee the scene, I jumped as I heard another loud gunshot and felt heat graze my arm. "Shit!" I gasped, leaping back.

"Are you okay?" Alexis asked, yanking me closer to her.

I frowned and shook my head. "No," I said, "Someone just fucking _shot_ at me! I didn't even do anything!"

"Who was it? Did they hurt you?"

"No," I repeated, "The bullet just barely grazed me. Now if I can only find the asshole that did this…"

We turned to leave again so that we could find a quieter spot to start looking, and that was when I began to feel the burn in my arm. I lifted my sleeve in time to see that the skin was starting to turn red. Damn it. Who the hell had just tried to kill me?

"We've got two more of the J'avo on the run over here!" a voice suddenly shouted in English.

"They might be trying to hide to take us by surprise! Find them and take them out!" another voice commanded, and with that, we froze in our places. J'avo? Who were the J'avo?

Wait a minute…were they talking about _us_?

"Look out!" Alexis cried, pulling me out of the way just as a shower of bullets hit the brick wall next to us. Oh, God. This just wasn't our day, was it? We had been through hell and back twice with _Resident Evil_, and frankly, I was getting sick of someone always trying to somehow get rid of me and my sister.

"They ran down this way," the voices were saying to one another once we dashed inside a nearby building, and while we remained hidden behind another wall, Alexis decided to peek over her shoulder to see who these people were. I doubted they were affiliated with the other soldiers we had arrived in town with, but I still didn't want them to kill us.

"Audrey," Alexis whispered, "The men trying to kill us…that's…that's the BSAA!"

"_What?_" I cried, following her gaze.

Sure enough, there were a few soldiers from the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance quickly making their way towards our hiding place. I spotted the familiar logo on the side of one of the men's shirts, as well as the traditional khaki outfits.

"Holy shit, you're right," I realized, "But what are they doing here? Why are they shooting at us? And why did they call us J'avo? What's a J'avo, anyway?"

Neither of us had the answer to that, but I did have an idea on how to prevent the BSAA from killing us. I wasn't sure it would work, but there was no harm in trying, right?

"I've got an idea," I whispered, "Just follow my lead."

We waited for the agents to get a little closer before I reached for my wallet, pulled out my BSAA identification, and waved it in the air.

"Wait! Don't shoot!" I shouted as I cautiously approached the BSAA, "I'm an agent! Samantha Reese! BSAA, North American Branch! And this is my sister!"

Alexis stared from me to the agents, who stopped in their tracks, but didn't lower their weapons. "Are you sure about this?" she whispered, moving to stand next to me as she helpfully raised her hands in the air, "Can you even still use that name?"

That was my fear. I wasn't sure where I stood with the BSAA at this point, but if it kept us alive, that was all I cared about.

Besides, only a few select members of the organization knew my true identity.

Some of the agents looked unsure of my claim to be one of them, and a couple of them raised their weapons again after lowering them slightly.

"Everyone, hold your fire!" someone ordered, and I looked up at the owner of the authoritative voice.

He was a young man who didn't look that much older than Alexis, and like the others, he was dressed in the normal BSAA winter attire, along with a tactical vest covering his chest. He had light brown hair that was styled in a short front spike, and he carried a sniper rifle in his hands. His face seemed to be set in an eternal frown, and for some reason, I found it difficult to look him directly in the eye. I forced myself to anyway, though.

"BSAA, you said?" he asked, "Got some ID?"

I quickly handed it over to him, and he took it in his gloved hands, studying it as he glanced back and forth between me and the card. His frown deepened, though I didn't think that was even possible for him.

"Everyone, clear out!" he commanded, "Find cover and return any enemy fire!"

"Yes, sir!" the others replied, though they looked even more confused than before. Though I didn't know him at all, I didn't think this young sniper was someone to mess around with, so the others left swiftly to take care of the situation.

Alexis and I began to move forward, but the BSAA agent held a hand out. "Don't move," he ordered, taking out his radio.

"Captain?" he spoke into it, "Did the BSAA send anymore teams here to help out with Edonia, by any chance?"

_Edonia? _Alexis mouthed to me, and I just shrugged.

"_Other than the ones we've already debriefed, no,_" a very familiar voice replied, making me gasp, "_Why_?"

"Chris Redfield!" I whispered in astonishment, sharing a glance with Alexis.

"He knows Chris Redfield?" my sister whispered low enough so that the man speaking to Chris wouldn't hear.

So these two knew each other, huh? What were the odds? And since when had Chris been promoted to Captain?

"I just found a woman claiming to still be with the BSAA. _Samantha Reese_."

_Oh, God, _I thought, holding my breath as Chris didn't say anything right away. My cover had been blown back in Africa. What would he say when he realized I was going by my fake name yet again?

And why was this man in front of us saying it like it was something terrible? Did that mean…

"_Find some cover by the staircase we saw earlier, and I'll meet you there,_" Chris said.

"Roger that. We're moving out!" The sniper hung up the radio and turned to us.

"Follow me," he said, and with that, he sprinted back the way he and his team had come, and Alexis and I walked closely behind him. For the first time in a long time, I had encountered someone who actually intimidated the _hell _out of me. And I hardly ever felt like this about anyone. It was almost like when Chris Redfield himself had found out the truth about me.

The man still held onto my ID, pausing for a second to examine it again and refusing to give it back to me. "Look, you've seen my ID," I tried to reason, "I'm the same person in the picture. No mistake."

"It's not that," he replied, "I thought Captain Redfield said you were discharged three years ago."

Alexis and I shared a glance, and my heart began to beat faster again. Chris had talked about me to some of the other agents? And he had discharged me from the BSAA without me even knowing it? "He did?" I asked, but then I caught myself just in time.

"I mean, I _was,_" I corrected myself,_ "_But I guess it slipped my mind when I was trying to keep us alive before."

"Well, you were. It's on file with the rest of the BSAA records." He paused.

"I've heard different things about you, by the way."

I frowned as another question burned in the back of my mind. "Just how much did you hear, exactly?"

The gunfire increased in volume as we eventually emerged back onto the streets again. "Enough to know that you two shouldn't be here interfering with us," the man answered.

"But we're not interfering!" Alexis protested, "_Your_ men shot at _us_!"

He suddenly stopped, taking cover behind another wall as he raised his sniper rifle and peered through it, zooming in on a target before taking him out with a clean headshot. He then moved on to another one of those "J'avo", which he eliminated with the same precision. All we could do was watch him in awe. I had seen many things in my life, but never something to this degree. He was very sharp and had a lot of concentration on his job. "Damn," I whispered under my breath.

There was a brief pause in gunfire yet again as the sniper hurriedly reloaded his rifle, ignoring us for the time being. Again, he was frowning, and although I could understand him not having a reason to grin in the battlefield, I wondered if he ever smiled at all outside a war situation.

"Piers!" we heard Chris shout, "Piers!"

"Over here, Captain!" the BSAA agent we were with replied.

And with that, Chris Redfield himself stepped into our line of sight. I widened my eyes as I noticed he was dressed in the same outfit as Piers, only his arms didn't look as buff as I remembered. Nevertheless, I could still see some muscle protruding from under his sleeves.

As soon as he locked eyes with me, his mouth dropped open, his gaze moving back and forth between me and my sister. It was almost as if he couldn't believe we were here, either, just like it was vice versa for us. Everything-from meeting him for the first time in the BSAA, to training in armed and hand to hand combat under his watchful eye, and finally going on the mission to Kijuju with him-came rushing back to me.

"Chris!" I cried.

"Audrey Fagan!" Chris gasped, "And Alexis Fagan! Didn't expect to see either of you here after so long! Still using your fake name, huh, Audrey?"

Alexis and I glanced at Piers, whose stern expression was still fixed on me. "Uhh…" Alexis stammered, clearing her throat.

"It's okay," Chris assured us, "He knows. This is Piers Nivans, one of the best marksmen we've got in the SOU, also known as the 'Man Who Never Misses a Target'." Piers nodded and shook hands with both of us, even though he gripped mine a lot harder than necessary. He didn't have to say anything to let me know that he didn't exactly have a very high opinion of me.

Well, that was just fine and dandy with me. He didn't have to like me, and I didn't have to like him.

"Never misses a target, huh?" Alexis questioned, "Is that why you've mostly got sniper rifles?" I could see she was trying to take some of the heat off me, and I made a mental note to thank her for it later.

Piers shrugged. "I guess the nickname stuck after a while," he said, "Right, Captain?"

"Right. And it's well-earned, too." Chris gave him an appreciative nod and then faced us again.

"So, what are you two doing here in Edonia? Last time I saw both of you was in Africa, and then you seemed to just disappear!"

_Edonia! _I thought, _That's where we are!_

"We had to go home right away," Alexis explained, which I realized wasn't entirely a lie, "After our injuries were treated. Our parents contacted us."

"And we've been pretty much traveling on our own since then," I added.

_Boom! _A grenade exploded somewhere close to where we were, and Chris looked up before gesturing to us. "Come on," he said, "We'll talk along the way."

With that, we began to climb up the set of stairs that was our temporary rendezvous point.

"Captain?" Piers began, but Chris just nodded at him and held up a hand.

"It's all right, Piers," he assured the young marksman, "I'll take it from here." He then faced us.

"If there's any heavy fighting we encounter, you two should be careful. These J'avo aren't like the Majini we fought in Kijuju, Audrey."

"J'avo?" Alexis echoed, "Are those the masked men we keep seeing around here?"

As soon as she said that, a few soldiers with machine guns appeared at the bottom of the stairs and began to open fire. I felt Alexis grab me and pull me towards the red door just up ahead while Chris and Piers worked together to take them down. While they did that, I glanced past them at the guns that were falling to the ground once the enemies were dead: machine guns. If we could just get our hands on those…

"I think we should arm ourselves," Alexis suddenly spoke up as if she had been reading my mind, "Just in case."

I nodded. "Once the firefight dies down, we'll grab those weapons over there," I said.

Alexis just smiled and patted my shoulder, and I sighed as I looked up at her. "Listen, about before…thanks," I thanked her.

My sister hugged me briefly. "No problem," she whispered, "I don't know about you, but I don't think Piers Nivans likes us all that much."

I scoffed. "No, he's okay with you," I replied, "_I'm _the one he can't stand. He must have a pretty high rank in the BSAA to know about me."

By the stairs, Chris and Piers finished taking out the J'avo and reloaded their weapons, making their way over to the same red door we were standing by. While they were busy, Alexis and I sprinted back the way we had come and scooped up two machine guns. There wasn't much ammo in either one, but we would make do with what we had for now.

Before the two agents up ahead could kick the door down, however, a thumping noise stopped us, and I immediately raised my new machine gun in front of me as the others did the same. "What the hell is that?" I whispered under my breath.

Eventually, what looked like a super-sized version of El Gigante made its way through the buildings, the pulsing spear on its back getting caught between two buildings as it continued to push itself onto the street, groaning the entire time. Next to me, Alexis winced at its drooping jaws and large teeth, and I realized this was her first time going up against real BOWs. Before I had found her in Africa, she had only fought against the Majini, but never anything like this.

Once the BOW finally emerged onto the street, Chris, Piers, and I immediately began to open fire. "I didn't know they came in extra large!" Piers yelled, "How many new species are there?"

"Shoot! Shoot!" I shouted at my sister, and she fumbled with the machine gun before pulling the trigger.

"Look out!" Chris cried, and we all looked up as the Ogroman picked up a truck and hurled it at us. Alexis and I grabbed each other and dodged it, rolling on the ground as the truck collided into the wall and sent concrete flying everywhere. Once the dust cleared, we picked ourselves while Chris and Piers did the same from the other end. Piers immediately locked onto what I dubbed the Ogroman with his rifle and continued to shoot, though it didn't look like this BOW was going anywhere. In fact, it barely seemed to be taking any damage, even with the four of us combined. It staggered towards the bridge and raised its fists as it roared.

"We've gotta move!" Piers shouted, "_Now_! Jump!" He and Chris turned and leaped off the bridge.

"Come on!" I cried, and Alexis and I jumped in the nick of time. More pieces of concrete fell along with us, hitting the ground as we did so after the BOW slammed the platform. We tumbled, and I felt a slight burning in my ankle as I pulled myself up from the ground.

"You okay?" I asked Alexis as she steadied herself against the wall to regain her balance.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, "I don't know how you jumped off that cliff that time, though. Just doing _this _was bad enough."

I frowned, pushing that memory out of my mind for the time being. For now, we had to get away from this BOW.

"Finn!" Chris yelled into his headset, "We've got a huge BOW on our tails! I need the A.P.C's firepower now!"

"_Removing the barricade now, sir!_" a voice, who I assumed was Finn, replied, "_I'll be there as soon as I can!_"

Behind us, the Ogroman began climbing over the bridge, and I ignored the pain in my ankle for now as I sprinted towards a ladder off to the right and climbed. Alexis followed suit, and we reloaded the machine guns once we made it up to the wooden platform. The BOW stomped towards the building Chris and Piers were running into now.

Unfortunately, some of the J'avo managed to follow us up to the platform. One of them grabbed my wrist, and I sank my foot into his, causing him to yelp and let go of me. On my other side, Alexis reached down and pushed another soldier off the platform. It was like all the skills I had acquired in the BSAA were coming back to me after not having used them for so long.

Across the street, Chris and Piers kept the Ogroman's focus mostly on them, though I could see more of those J'avo closing in on them as well.

"Is this what it was like for you in Spain and Africa?" Alexis whispered to me, "Constantly fighting BOWs like this? I've never done this before. I feel like such a tagalong compared to you, Chris, and Piers…"

I sighed. "Don't worry about it," I said to her, "You're not a tagalong. You can hold your own just as much as anyone else. You did back in Africa, didn't you?"

_When I was forced to leave you behind,_ I thought guiltily to myself.

"Yeah, but you've had more experience. I just spent most of my time with Wesker."

Down below, the gate crashed open, and the A.P.C made its way through, with Finn opening fire on the BOW with far more powerful weapons than the four of us combined. The Ogroman stumbled backwards, letting out an earsplitting _roar _as it barreled towards our wooden platform.

"Audrey! Alexis!" we heard Chris shout, and the two of us jumped and tumbled on the ground for a second time. The smell of gunpowder clouded my nostrils, and I reached down to pull my T-shirt over my nose to block it out. Behind us, the Ogroman tried climbing over a roof nearby, but ended up bringing the whole building down, so he instead just collapsed out of sight before staggering away. Alexis grabbed my hand and helped me up, and we decided to go meet up with the others inside the more structurally sound building.

"Captain, I don't think Audrey Fagan should be here," we heard Piers saying while the two of them reloaded all their weapons, "She's not a part of the BSAA anymore, and we can't trust her or her sister. They both tried to kill you!"

Alexis and I glanced at each other. "I guess he's not okay with me, either," my sister whispered to me.

"I know," Chris said in response, "And I haven't forgotten about what happened in Africa, but I know she and Alexis won't get in the way. They can handle themselves. We'll keep an eye on them, though. Just in case. Alexis was in the same situation as Jill, so I'm not too worried about her, but Audrey can be a bit of a wild card. _That _much I remember. Besides, Audrey doesn't have anything to hide anymore. Or she _shouldn't_, anyway."

Piers frowned again, but nodded. Chris was his captain, and it seemed he knew where to draw the line.

"Yes, sir," he said, and I sighed.

This was going to be a long mission, which left me to wonder what was happening to the hooded mercenary from before.


	3. Awkward Encounters

All right! Time for the next chapter of "Divide and Conquer"! Thanks again to everyone who's been reading, reviewing, favoriting, and alerting this story! I really appreciate it! :D

**DISCLAIMER: **Only my OCs and plot ideas are mine. Everything else belongs to Capcom.

_Italics- _Third-person POV

* * *

Once we were back with the rest of Chris and Piers' team and the rest of the J'avo in this area had been cleared out, we slowly began walking behind the A.P.C that Finn was driving. Fortunately, Chris had managed to find some spare khaki jackets with the BSAA logo on the side, which he passed to both me and Alexis. "Thank you," we thanked him as we slipped them on, along with a pair of gloves each. Piers continued to look resentful, but eventually adopted a neutral expression and turned to one of the soldiers next to him, ushering him forward.

To be honest, I was kind of surprised at how Chris was treating us so far. Although he was clearly suspicious of us, he was still being a lot nicer than we had anticipated. After what I did to him in Africa, I had expected him to be much colder and not as willing to help us out. Unless this was his way of trying to get information out of us.

While we waited for Finn to drive through the next gate, I turned to Chris.

"So…" I began, "I guess it's time for me to finally hand in my badge, huh?"

Chris looked up from his handgun. "Yes," he confirmed, "I wanted to tell you as soon as we were finished with the mission in Africa, but you and your sister were gone."

I clutched my chest and felt my heart sink. So it was true! Chris really _had _discharged me from the BSAA! I supposed part of me was hoping that Piers was only bluffing, but it dawned on me that he was right after all. _Reality check, _I thought to myself, _You should have known you weren't going to get out of that scot free. Not after the stunt you pulled. _

"Honorable or dishonorable?" was all I asked, though I wasn't sure I really wanted the answer.

"Neither." He then gave me what I thought looked like a sympathetic expression.

"Look, I know why you…did what you did," he said, glancing over at Alexis, "But you still created a false identity, kept valuable intel from us, and also didn't tell us about your past criminal activity. And as one of the leaders of the North American Branch, I can't just let something like that go. I don't _like _letting any of my soldiers go, and you _were _a good soldier, but you understand why I had to this time, right?"

I looked down at the ground, kicking some snow away with my boots. "I guess I should have figured out a long time ago that I wouldn't get a free pass," I commented, "After all the pain I caused."

Chris frowned, raising his hand to his chin in thought.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I wasn't sure if I should ask you this or not," he replied, "But I'm going to anyway. How's your…you know…your virus?"

_How's your virus, _I thought, _A.K.A are you still prone to randomly attempting to murder innocent people?_

"It's fine," I reported, "I haven't lost control since Africa." _Not since I resisted Wesker's control for the last time, _I added silently to myself.

"And Alexis? How is she?"

"Fine," I repeated, "We're both just fine. No longer susceptible to manipulation. Thanks for asking."

Before he could say anything else, we finally made it through the gate and hurried over to another fence that was blocking our way. More J'avo leaped from behind walls, out of trucks, and even from in between alleys. "You're right, Alexis," I whispered to my sister as I reached for my machine gun, "This _is _a lot like Spain and Africa."

She nodded, but stayed close to me while we plowed our way through the horde of enemies. There was just no end to them, was there? If these were indeed mercenaries similar to the ones we had met earlier, was all this a result of the energy booster we had overheard him talking about?

"Finn!" Piers shouted, "Get over here! I need you to blow this fence!"

"Yes, sir!" Finn replied, and I looked over my shoulder as a man about our age made an appearance. He smiled shyly as he made his way over to the fence and took out some explosives so that he could set the charges.

"So he's the resident explosives expert?" Alexis asked.

Chris nodded. "That's Finn McCauley," he answered, "The rookie of the team. This is his first mission with the BSAA."

"And Piers is sending him right in the thick of things?" I questioned.

"He's been doing an excellent job so far. And you were still a rookie when you went to Kijuju with me. That was your first mission, remember?"

_First and last, _I thought as I looked up and met Chris's gaze again.

"Yeah, it was," I said, "I guess I was just wondering."

_Boom! _Finn leaped back as the fence exploded, and once the path was clear, we hurried down to the next area, which was just about the same as the last. For a rookie, Finn was pretty good, being able to keep his cool and focus on his job even with all the tension around us. The whole time, we stuck close to him, Chris, and Piers, helping them deal with the J'avo while we waited for Finn to blow up the train car that was blocking our way now.

I leaped over a brick wall in order to get a clearer shot at some of the soldiers when I bumped into Piers, causing us both to stumble for a second. He righted himself, took out a few enemies with his sniper rifle, and then faced me as I used my machine gun.

"You know," he said during a brief pause in fighting, "You have a lot of nerve showing up here after what happened in Africa."

"It's not like we _wanted _to come here," I responded, thinking about how we had gone to Chelsea's house to watch the game in the first place. I realized that was the truth. Neither Alexis nor I had wanted to go back to _Resident Evil, _yet here we were.

"So why are you here, then?" Piers asked, "If you don't want to be?"

_Damn, _I thought, _This guy doesn't quit. _"It's…complicated," I answered, "Our whole _lives _are complicated. I don't think I can explain it right now."

"Audrey! Piers!" Chris yelled, "Come on! Finn's taken care of the train car!"

I turned to go, but I felt Piers grab my arm.

"Hey!" he snapped.

I faced him.

"Whatever you do, just try not to kill Captain Redfield. Or _any _of us, for that matter. Okay?"

I frowned and shook his hand off, strapping my machine gun to my back.

"Look, Piers," I sighed, "I know you don't exactly think I'm one of the good guys, but you'll just have to trust me on this one. I'm not going to kill him."

* * *

_**A bridge filled to the brim with tanks and J'avo later…**_

After clearing a bridge we had encountered, it was eerie thinking about how everything was suddenly silent once again. Alexis and I passed some extra ammo we had collected to each other while Finn continued to walk next to us. It was mostly his work that had gotten us across the bridge, and I couldn't help but admire him for it.

"So you're the famous Finn McCauley, huh?" I asked.

Finn looked up and smiled shyly again. "Yes, m'am," he replied, "This is my first mission with the BSAA."

"Yeah, Chris-I mean, Captain Redfield told us about you a little while ago," Alexis said to him, "He had nothing but good things to say about your work so far."

Finn sighed with relief. "Oh, thank God!" he cried, "I've been trying really hard to be more confident around him. When I first met him, I couldn't stop stuttering! It was so embarrassing. I mean, he's so well-respected in the BSAA, and I got picked to go on a mission with him! I, a _rookie_!"

"He treats all his soldiers like family," I told him, "That's what makes him such a good leader." I felt a hint of sadness and guilt as I said this. It was true; back in Africa, he had treated me and Sheva as more than just mission partners. We were like a tight knit family, with the way he had always looked out for both of us. It had made my eventual betrayal even worse.

"I just feel honored to be able to work with someone like him," Finn said, "And Piers Nivans, too."

Alexis and I shared a glance, and then directed our gazes at Piers, who was walking up ahead with Chris. "Tell us, Finn," my sister whispered, "Who exactly is Piers Nivans? We met him earlier, but he didn't really seem all that friendly."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about him," Finn assured us, waving a hand, "Piers may seem like a grouch now, but he's actually really nice once you get to know him. Sure, we were at odds a bit at the beginning of the mission, but he isn't always like that. I know that from the days when I was still training. He's just got so much going for him right now and I guess he's under a lot of pressure to live up to Captain Redfield's standards. He's Chris's second in command, if you want to think of it like that, and he's got a lot of respect for him."

Honestly, I liked Finn; he was nice and cheerful despite our grim situation, and he seemed to see the best in everyone, even the _Man Who Never Misses a Target_. "That's a nice thought, Finn," I replied, "But I don't think Piers wants us to get to know him."

"Why not? Did something happen with you guys? Or with the Captain?"

"Something like that," I mumbled, and the three of us fell silent once again.

"We're almost to the City Hall now!" one of the others announced to Chris and Piers, and the two of them just nodded, ushering us forward as we took cover by a couple of parked vehicles.

The sound of distant footsteps made me tense up, and apparently, everyone else felt the same way, as we all crouched down and raised our weapons, expecting another horde of J'avo. What we got instead was something totally unexpected.

"Sherry Birkin! National Security!"

All the BSAA agents looked as surprised as they had when I had revealed myself before, and I peered over the top of my gun to see a woman with short blonde hair, a white jacket, dark pants, and boots approaching us as she waved a badge in the air. She didn't look that much older than us, but something about her was eating away at me.

_Birkin, _I thought, _Birkin. Why does that name sound familiar? _

Chris and Piers cautiously approached the woman as Alexis, the rest of the agents, and I followed suit.

"Sherry Birkin?" Chris repeated, "You were in Raccoon City."

The woman, Sherry, looked shocked that Chris knew that information about her. So she had been a Raccoon City survivor, huh?

"How do you know that?" she asked.

"Claire."

At that, Sherry's expression changed, and she stared at Chris with a wide look on her face. At the same time, I gasped as well. This couldn't be the same Sherry Birkin Leon had told me about a long time ago, except all grown up now.

Could it?

"Wait," Sherry said, "Are you Chris?"

Chris nodded in confirmation. "My sister's told me all about you," he explained to her, and this seemed to help her relax a little bit.

It seemed she had known Claire Redfield and Leon back in Raccoon City. That much I remembered, only back then, she had been a twelve year old girl, not an agent. "Oh my God," I whispered under my breath, "It _is _her!"

There was no doubt about it. This was the one and only Sherry Birkin. Daughter of William Birkin, one of Wesker's partners in Umbrella, and his wife, Annette Birkin.

_Well, shit, this is awkward,_ I thought to myself, hoping nobody noticed how uncomfortable I was.

"Chris," Piers piped up, pointing at someone behind Sherry, "That man is a wanted insurgent."

We all followed his gaze, and even Sherry glanced over her shoulder as we spotted a man leaning against a car as he faced away from us. A long scar ran down his cheek, and his reddish brown hair gleamed in the sunlight. He was dressed in black from head to toe, though I could barely make out the same spider we had seen earlier. The man used one of his gloved hands to cover up the patch on his arm, and it seemed he didn't want to look at us even more.

"Yes, he's a mercenary," Sherry explained, "But right now, he's under the protection of the U.S. government. He's no threat to the BSAA."

So that confirmed my theory from our little hitchhiking adventure gone wrong. The spider _was_ a symbol for a mercenary group. But why was _this _man so much more important than any of the others we encountered?

"Unless someone pays me to be," the man spoke up, and Alexis and I froze in our places. _No way, _I thought as my heart began to beat faster, _Is that who I think it is? _

"_What did you just say?_" Piers demanded.

The man shrugged, still keeping his head down and brushing some dirt off his jacket.

"Wait a minute," Alexis whispered to me, "That voice sounds familiar…"

"It does," I agreed, "But it can't be. It's not…"

"You two know him?" Chris asked.

"Well, not exactly," I admitted, "But on the way here, we ran into this asshole who was really-"

Suddenly, the mercenary glanced up and looked all of us directly in the eye, causing me to trail off as I gasped again. Next to me, Alexis and Chris's mouths dropped open in shock, as did mine. Though the rest of his features were unfamiliar, I recognized those blue eyes. In that moment, I had no more doubts about his identity. This was the same hooded mercenary we had encountered much earlier, our semi-interpreter…and the guy who had left us in the cold near the checkpoint after we refused to pay him.

It wasn't just the fact that Alexis and I could now put a face to this mysterious mercenary. There was something else about him that made me feel uneasy, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Alexis and Chris seemed to feel the same way, for they only continued to lock eyes with him with the same shocked looks on their faces.

"_What_?" the man asked harshly, straightening up and throwing his hands up impatiently.

"Nothing," Chris answered, and he shook his head as his radio let off a burst of static.

"_HQ to Alpha Team. Reinforcements are unable to land due to anti-aircraft artillery. Take 'em out._"

"Alpha Team, copy," Chris replied, but it seemed HQ wasn't finished.

"_What the…we're picking up a large bogey on radar! It's heading right for you!_"

We all whirled around as a helicopter flew over our heads, carrying what looked like another Ogroman. He eventually crashed to the ground as a spear protruded from his back, and he roared as he shook his head and straightened his back.

"Shit!" I cursed, "Not another one!"

Sherry and the mercenary hurriedly backed away while the rest of pointed our guns at the BOW.

"We'll talk later!" Chris shouted to Sherry, "Right now, you need to find cover!"

The Ogroman roared again, bared his teeth, and raised his fists, just like the previous one. "Everyone, _move_!" Piers yelled, and we quickly dispersed as the BOW's massive fists made contact with the ground, sending out a shock wave. I felt myself lose balance, and I grabbed onto the closest car for support.

"_Alpha Team, this is Echo! Come in! Those three anti-aircraft turrets are keeping us at bay!_"

"Roger that, Echo!" Chris responded, "We'll take care of 'em for you! Come on!" He waved his hand, and Piers, Alexis, and I all began to follow him to the first turret. We hurried through the streets, dodging the Ogroman, who was now swiping his hands in an attempt to grab any of us.

"Finn!" Chris cried as we ran into the rookie, "You're up! Think you can blow up the turrets?"

"Yes, sir!" Finn replied, saluting and dashing up a flight of stairs. Piers followed him and Chris, but Alexis and I stayed behind to take care of some of the J'avo.

"_Chris!_" we heard Sherry yell through our radios, "_We'll give you a hand!_"

"_Out of the question!_" Chris protested, "_You need to get to safety!_"

"_I'm fine! I can handle myself, and you need the help!_"

"_Christ,_" the mercenary groaned, "_My chances of survival were higher when I was a soldier of fortune._"

I covered my ears as the Ogroman's roar pierced my eardrums again. Anymore of that harsh sound and I was going to go deaf!

"Let's see what's over there!" Alexis suggested, and reloading our machine guns, we sprinted away from the staircase and across the street. On the second floor was another turret, but it didn't look like one of the anti-aircraft ones. Perfect.

"This way," I whispered, and we swiftly climbed up a ladder, though once we got to the top, we spotted the J'avo hanging out around here. They reached out to grab us, but we fended them off with some blind punches and kicks. Next to me, I could see my sister was getting more confident in her methods of defense.

"So…" a voice spoke up, "We meet again, huh, sweetheart?"

We both looked up at the mercenary accompanying Sherry, and he gave me a small smirk as he kicked one of the soldiers away from us.

"Ugh, _you _again," I hissed, "What are you doing here?"

"He's with me," Sherry answered, "This is Jake Muller. Who are you two?"

All four of us ducked as the Ogroman tried to swipe at us again.

"I'm Audrey Fagan," I replied, seeing no reason to hide my identity anymore. I was tired of lying and tired of always creating elaborate stories, and I felt better just telling the truth.

"And I'm Alexis Fagan," Alexis added.

During the brief break from fighting against the J'avo and the new Ogroman, Sherry studied both of us, and although I no longer had the need or want to lie about anything, I still felt my discomfort return. How was I supposed to tell her that I had used her late father as part of my cover story in Africa?

I'd figure it out later.

"Fagan," Sherry whispered under her breath, as if she was trying to figure out where she had heard that name before.

"_I'm setting charges on the anti-aircraft guns now!_" Finn suddenly reported, "_But it's gonna take a while! See if you can buy me some time! I need you to distract that giant BOW! I can't work with it around!_"

Sherry reached for her handgun and pressed a button on her headset. "Chris!" she cried, "We'll take care of one of those big ones!" And with that, she hurried over to the turret on the open ledge.

"Thanks for volunteering me for the job, babe," Jake muttered sarcastically, shaking his head and running to join her.

So _this _was the infamous Jake Muller that Chelsea had been gushing over, huh? All right, he _was _pretty easy on the eyes. I would give her that much.

Too bad his personality wasn't as attractive.

"I see we're not the only ones he talks like that to," Alexis whispered to me, "What's his deal, anyway?"

I just sighed and shrugged, turning my attention to the Ogroman as he now stomped around the street. Jake, Alexis, and I covered Sherry as she operated the turret, and the whole time, I wondered the same thing. Jake was a wanted man, yet the U.S. government seemed to think he was important. Clearly, Sherry knew, but she must have not been allowed to tell us anymore than Jake's name. What differentiated him from any of the men we had met so far?

"You two never said you were with those BSAA morons over there," Jake suddenly piped up as he reloaded his handgun.

"They're _not _morons," Alexis said, "And we didn't know they were even here until a little while ago."

"So you two are agents?" Sherry asked from next to the turret.

"Yeah," I answered, "We're more freelance, though, but our ties are with the BSAA."

"Could've fooled me," Jake muttered, and another bolt of fury coursed through me.

"Just ignore him," Sherry told us, "He talks like that to everyone."

"_The charges are set!_" Finn shouted, "_Everyone, get back!_"

After a few seconds, the four of us watched the first anti-aircraft turret explode, and once that was taken care of, we resumed our attempts to handle the Ogroman. After Sherry delivered another round of bullets from our own turret, the BOW staggered, slamming his hand on our platform and destroying the gun. As the smoke and dust cleared, we all noticed there were some spears sticking out of his back. So far, the Ogroman appeared to be resistant to guns. Maybe we could stab it instead…

"Jake!" Sherry suddenly gasped, "What are you doing?"

But Jake ignored her, running and leaping onto the BOW's back in order to pull out one of the spikes. While he did that, the three of us hurried and jumped back down to the street level.

"_Only two guns left!_" we heard Chris yell, "_Audrey, Alexis, where are you?_"

"We're with Sherry!" I reported, "We're gonna help her take out this BOW!"

"AHH!"

I whirled around as Jake finished delivering damage to the BOW, which began stumbling around again while throwing the mercenary off his back. "Jake!" Sherry cried, running over to him, but he seemed to be handling himself just fine.

Alexis and I were about to rejoin them when we noticed the frown on his face. A couple of soldiers jumped down from another ledge and made their way towards us, and Jake crouched down before sprinting towards them at full speed, stopping to deliver a very powerful punch followed by a roundhouse kick, which killed them instantly.

I gasped, unable to take my eyes off him as he straightened himself out again, picking up some ammo that the J'avo had dropped. Again, I felt uneasy around him, which was even more apparent when he caught me staring at him for a second time. Even though we had never met before, there was something about his fighting style that seemed awfully familiar. And that face…

"You gonna stand there all starry-eyed again or are you gonna pick up your gun and keep fighting?" he spat. I realized I had been watching him for longer than I had wanted to, and I blinked, frowning at him.

"_Sorry_," I apologized in a sharp tone, "It's just…"

"What?" Jake asked insistently, "It's just _what, _Fagan?"

"Nothing," I said, "Let's go." I turned away from him and went to meet up with my sister again, all while Sherry caught up with us as well.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"We're fine," Alexis assured her, "Thanks." Sherry gave us a small smile and then gestured for us to follow her.

"How do you put up with him, Sherry?" I asked, jutting my chin in the mercenary's direction, "I hope he doesn't talk to you like that."

"Oh, he doesn't," Sherry explained, "Well, he's a little harsh at times, but nothing like the way he is with you. How do you two know him, anyway?"

"Never mind," I muttered, "It's pretty embarrassing."

Falling silent again, we took off down the street in an attempt to find the next turret. It couldn't have been too far away. Wherever it was, I hoped Jake wouldn't be there. I didn't think I could take anymore of his smartass attitude, and I hoped he and Sherry would get out of here safely so that we would never have to deal with him again.

"There! Up ahead!" Sherry announced, pointing to where Chris and Piers were situated…along with Jake. After we climbed up the set of stairs below them, I watched Sherry go meet up with Jake as I held my sister back.

"What's up?" she asked.

I jutted my chin at the mercenary. "See Jake Muller over there?" I whispered, "Just out of curiosity…does he remind you of anyone?"

By the turret where Finn was currently working, Jake growled as he crouched down and sprinted again, killing the surrounding J'avo with the same combination of punches and kicks from before. Again, I noticed how familiar it was, but I was careful not to let him see that we were _both _gawking at him this time.

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Alexis replied quietly, "I don't know if I'm the only one who feels this way, but he reminds me of…of _Wesker_."

_Boom! _The anti-aircraft turret exploded, making my ears ring, but I paid no attention to my surroundings as HQ urged the others to get to the last target. I faced Alexis as I thought about the name she had just mentioned, and then I turned my gaze back towards Jake. I had been thinking the same thing she had, and perhaps Chris had noticed the slight resemblance as well. There _was _something very Wesker-like about this mercenary in front of us, and it left me feeling uncomfortable all over again. I could almost picture Albert Wesker himself in my mind, with those sunglasses over his red cat eyes, and that smug smirk on his face as he taunted me about my past and my sister…

"Audrey!"

I looked up at both Alexis and Sherry as they stood in front of me with concerned expressions on their faces.

"We called your name a couple of times," Sherry said, "Are you okay?"

I shook my head, feeling my head throb as my ears continued to ring. "Sorry," I apologized, "The blast must have made me go deaf for a second."

"Here, take this." Sherry passed me what looked like some sort of painkiller.

"This should help."

"Thanks, Sherry," I thanked her, smiling at her. She, Alexis, and Jake jumped back down to the street, but I merely climbed down, feeling a little dizzy once I finally made it. I could see the Raccoon City survivor staring at me again as if she was trying to figure out who I was, but I ignored it for the time being. There was already so much I was confused about and I didn't have time for an interrogation.

"_We've almost got it now!_" we all heard Piers yell through our radios, "_Audrey, Alexis, Sherry, get over here!_"

"You heard the man!" Sherry cried, "Let's move!"

Fortunately, the last turret wasn't too far away, but we felt the ground shake as another Ogroman appeared! The same one Alexis, Chris, Piers, and I had fought before!

"Didn't we lose that BOW a while ago?" Alexis shouted.

"Yeah, and he's back for more!" I replied, aiming my machine gun in his direction. Alexis did the same, and the two of us worked to bring the Ogroman to its knees while Sherry and Jake climbed up to another ledge.

"Got it!" I quipped, but as I went to reload, a burst of electricity also made the BOW roar in pain. I looked up as Sherry strapped what looked like a Stun Rod across her back. _Damn, _I thought, _She ain't a little girl anymore, that's for sure._

I still couldn't believe how much she seemed to have changed, even after everything Leon had told me about her. We had _all _changed because of our experiences.

"_Good job, Alpha!_" someone from the Echo team cheered just as their helicopter finally managed to land to our level. Behind us, Jake jumped down from the Ogroman's back after Echo opened fire on it, killing that and the other BOW for good.

After the harrowing mission of taking out both the BOWs and the anti-aircraft turrets, it was actually a relief to see Chris and Piers again. "You okay?" he asked us.

"We're A-okay," I assured him, giving him a thumbs up. Piers just turned away, focusing on the chopper as Chris approached Sherry.

"I already gave the pilot the coordinates," he announced to her, shaking her hand as firmly as he had when he had first met me.

"Thank you so much for your help," she thanked him, "It was nice to finally meet you, Chris. And you, too." She nodded at me and Alexis, and we just waved to her.

Jake, on the other hand, seemed to be in a big hurry to leave, and Chris took note of that as well. "Hey," he called out, "Hey!"

The outspoken mercenary about-faced impatiently, and again, that random reminder of Wesker raced through my mind.

"Have we met?" Chris asked him.

Jake's eyes widened in confusion as a frown settled in after that. "So I guess Chris noticed the resemblance too, huh?" Alexis whispered to me.

"Nah, you jarheads all look the same to me, pal," Jake responded flippantly, pointing at all of us, "Sorry." With a subtle shrug, he turned to board the helicopter.

"Oh, you've gotta be _kidding _me!" Piers snapped, stepping forward, only to have Chris throw his arm up and hold him back. _Just like me, _I thought, _I'm the one Alexis has to restrain._

"My mistake!" Chris replied, turning to Sherry, "Have a safe flight." Sherry nodded and hurried after Jake, and we just watched the two of them greet the Echo pilots and then disappear into the cabin.

To my left, Piers just paced around for a little bit and looked down at his feet, clearly in thought about something. "Captain," he said, looking up, "We're _crazy _for letting him walk away! How many men have we lost to mercenaries like him?"

_No offense, Piers, but do you ever stop bitching at Chris? _I thought to myself, biting my tongue to keep myself from asking that question out loud. I was already in hot water with him and Chris to begin with and I didn't want to rock the boat any further.

"He's not our problem," Chris countered, "We can't lose sight of the BSAA's mission." He waved to the rest of the soldiers, and he began to lead them towards City Hall, which was much closer.

"To fight bioterrorism, sir!" Finn piped up with a wide smile on his face. I grinned at him in return, seeing how he was proud of where he was and proud to be fighting for a good cause.

His cheerful attitude didn't seem to bode well with Piers, though. "I _know _what we're here for, rookie," the sniper hissed, hurrying away to catch up with his Captain.

"So," Alexis quipped, "Piers Nivans is really nice when you get to know him, huh?"

Finn shrugged. "I rest my case," he said, and I just chuckled.

"Come on, let's go," I replied, and we began running after the others.

* * *

_At first, there was only silence, but as soon as the helicopter took off, Jake got up from his seat and went to look out the window. He couldn't believe he was finally getting out of Edonia. It felt like he had been there his whole life, and the fact that he was about to get his biggest paycheck in history…how could he not be excited? _

_Not that he had a real reason for needing that much money anymore, but fifty million dollars was still a lot that he didn't want to go to waste. _

"_Yes," Sherry was saying into her phone, "But there's something I need to run by you. Mr. Muller is requesting compensation for his cooperation." Jake stretched his arms and hoped that whoever Sherry's higher ups were would come through for him. After all, it was his blood they were interested in using. Although he didn't know how or why he possessed the antibodies for the C-virus, why not be paid for it? _

"_Fifty million dollars," Sherry announced, and then after a brief pause, said, "Yes. Yes, I understand. I'll let him know." She hung up the phone as Jake took a seat across from her. _

"_So, we got a deal?" he asked. _

"_Yes, we have a deal," Sherry confirmed, and Jake allowed a small smile to cross his face as he clapped his hands in victory. _

"_Well, that was easy," he commented, and with that, he ripped the patch from the Edonian Liberation Army off his jacket and tossed it to the ground. _

_For about a minute or two, the two of them remained silent, with Sherry looking around the cabin while she swung her legs out in front of her. Jake stared down at the ground, debating whether or not he should say what was on his mind, and after a while, he decided it wouldn't hurt him. _

"_By the way," he began, which got Sherry's attention, "That guy you were all chummy with back there…" _

"_You mean Chris?" Sherry asked, wondering why Jake was bringing him up. _

"_That's the one." _

"_What about him?" _

_There were a ton of things Jake wanted to ask about Chris, such as why he had been staring at him like he knew him, and why the BSAA agent left a cold feeling in his gut. Not just one of dislike, but extreme discomfort. He hadn't felt comfortable with all the staring he had received so far that day, and Chris asking if they had met before was the icing on the cake. _

"_Forget it," he eventually said, waving his hand dismissively, and Sherry folded her hands as she glanced down at her lap. _

"_Okay, then," she retorted, "What about you and the Fagans? They didn't seem to like you very much, especially Audrey. It's like she really hated you." _

_Jake just shook his head. "I don't know what the hell her problem is," was all he said, "Hell, why do I care? Not like I'm ever gonna see her or her sister again after all this. After I get my paycheck, I'm gettin' as far away from here as I can." _

_Suddenly, the chopper began to shake, and both Jake and Sherry nearly fell to the ground, startled. "What was that?" Sherry asked as the two of them got up from their seats. _

"_My gut's goin' with something bad," Jake replied, "And here it comes." _

_The cabin shook violently again, and the alarms began to ring just as a door in the corner burst open. When Sherry got a glimpse of the culprit behind this, she gasped while Jake just backed up. _

"_Oh my God!"_


	4. Brevity

Okay! Here we go with the next chapter of "Divide and Conquer"! Thanks again to everyone who's been reading and reviewing so far! I've been having a blast writing this so far! :)

I've also taken some very minor liberties with some parts of the game in order to keep the story moving, but they're not big changes at all. Everything is still pretty much the same for the most part.

**DISCLAIMER: **Only my OCs, plot ideas, and slight changes from the original game are mine. Everything else belongs to Capcom.

* * *

I don't fucking believe it, _Jake thought as he stared into the face of the Ustanak once again. He thought he and Sherry had gotten rid of this nuisance a long time ago before meeting the BSAA, but the BOW just didn't quit. The mercenary had thought a few shots from his magnum and blowing up barrels near the damn thing would have killed him, but apparently not. He watched as the Ustanak raised his metal claw in the air and grabbed on to the side of the plane. _

_ "That thing's after you two, ain't he?" one of the BSAA pilots shouted over the gunfire as he, Sherry, and Jake worked together to try and get the Ustanak to back off. _

You have no idea, _Jake thought to himself, but he didn't say anything as he switched to his Elephant Killer. The only thing on his mind was his fifty million dollars, and he was willing to do whatever it took to get it. _

_ Just as long he didn't get himself killed in the process. Even if he turned out to be nothing more than an expendable pawn to everyone who wanted his blood, it would still be nice to live to see the next day. _

_ Next to him, Sherry grabbed her Stun Rod and used that to make the Ustanak back off. He lost his grip on that part of the plane, roared, and then hopped to another window, breaking it in order to reach the people inside. More specifically, Jake Muller, the man he had been programmed to track down in the first place. _

_ "I'm sorry!" Sherry apologized to the agent, "I didn't mean to put you in danger!" _

_ "Don't sweat it, kid!" he replied, "This is why I get paid the big bucks!" _

Yeah, I bet, _Jake thought, throwing all his focus on shooting the Ustanak. Sherry had already promised him that she would not let anything happen to him, and he only hoped she would keep her end of the deal. _

_ Creak! The Ustanak hopped in a doorway close to the cockpit, swinging his arm and bringing it crashing into the cabin. After he did that, the plane began to fill up with smoke, causing everyone inside to cough. Jake covered his nose with his arm and dashed to the other side to try and block it out. Wasn't there anything that they could do to get rid of this thing once and for all? _

_ "Jake!" the mercenary heard Sherry cry from the other end of the cabin, "There's another jet next to us! We'll have to jump!" _

_ Jake coughed again, ducking and running towards the cockpit, where sure enough, the pilot on an adjacent plane was waving to them. _

_ "Come on!" he cried, "Jump!" _

_ Jake crouched down, assist jumping Sherry over to the next plane before he followed suit in the nick of time. He stretched his hand and grabbed Sherry's, who proceeded to pull him to safety. Unfortunately, the BSAA pilots on the burning plane didn't have the same luck, for the Ustanak managed to send it crashing into the abyss below. _Oh, sure, have a safe flight, Chris said, _Jake thought, _Who was he kiddin'?

_ "This just keeps getting better and better," he said out loud in a sarcastic tone. _

_ "He's stuck to one of those choppers!" Sherry realized, "We've got to shoot them down! Come on!" She led the way over to two turrets, and both of them occupied each one as they began to open fire on the three helicopters following them. To Jake's disappointment, the Ustanak leaped back and forth between each one, making the task even more daunting than it already was. _

_ "This is getting a little crazy now, even for me!" Jake commented over the gunfire, "I should've read the fine print before I signed up for this!" He then laughed caustically while he waited for his turret to cool down after overheating. _

_ "Hell, I should've just joined Fagan and her sister at the checkpoint earlier!" _

_ "What checkpoint?" Sherry yelled, ducking out of the way of the Ustanak's attack. _

_ "Right outside the city!" the mercenary explained, "They tried to hitchhike with my platoon and they wouldn't pay up, so I kicked them out of the back of the truck. I bet that's why they hate me!" _

_ Sherry rolled out of the way of another shower of bullets and resumed her place by her turret. "Well, that explains some things," was all she said, and after a few more shots from both their guns, the three helicopters spiraled out of control and crashed into the snowy valley below them. _

_ A familiar roar cut their victory short, however, and Jake looked up in time to see the Ustanak clinging to the bottom of the cabin and slamming his arm on the ground. "Get your own helicopter, asshole!" he snapped, pulling out his handgun and shot a couple of gas tanks near the edge, finally getting the BOW to let go and fall back to the surface below. _Thank God, _he thought. _

_ "Look, a parachute!" Sherry quipped, and thinking quickly, Jake grabbed it and pushed the straps over his shoulders while reaching for the agent next to him at the same time. He fumbled with the straps before opening the parachute. Where the two of them had been almost free-falling a few seconds ago, they now descended as slowly as a feather while watching out for debris from the plane above them. _

_ A few minutes later, Jake and Sherry managed to land on the ground, but not without feeling a strong burst of wind from somewhere above them. "Jake, look out!" Sherry cried, but the helicopter kicked up a lot of snow as it finally made impact. The explosions from the engines made Jake cover his ears, but it wasn't enough to completely avoid the fallen chopper, and after nearly getting killed, the mercenary suddenly felt very tired, and with that, he closed his eyes and passed out in the snow. _

* * *

_It seemed like forever before Jake finally came to, and he groaned as he opened his eyes and tried to sit up. He couldn't understand why he felt heavier than usual…until he realized he felt something warm and sticky on his hands. _

Sherry! _He thought, noticing that Sherry was lying on top of him as a pool of blood formed underneath her. He quickly sat upright and realized why she was bleeding so profusely: a piece of debris from the plane had somehow become lodged into her back. _

_For the first time in a long time, Jake felt panic take over, and seeing Sherry now…well, she didn't look good. The way she was breathing and struggling must have been torture for her, and Jake clenched his fist. _

"_What do I do?" he whispered to himself. _

"_Pull it out," Sherry whispered, closing her eyes in agony. _

"_No," Jake protested, "You'll bleed to death." _

"_Please…" Sherry pleaded, and although it went against his nature as a mercenary, Jake couldn't help but worry about her. That was unusual for him. He hadn't felt this type of emotion since his mother…_

_No. He wasn't going to think about that right now. _

"_All right," he said, "Don't say I didn't warn ya." He took a few deep breaths, gripped the debris, and eventually loosened it enough for it to slide right out of Sherry's back. _

"_AHH!" she screamed, collapsing to the ground to try and steady herself after that ordeal, but Jake wasn't looking at her. Instead, he was staring at her back, where the wound was folding in on itself, healing rapidly until there were no signs that she had been impaled at all. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open in shock, not knowing what to make of this. He knew he had antibodies against the C-virus, so what was going on with Sherry Birkin that gave her healing powers? _

"_What…the hell?" he gasped, "You wanna tell me what the hell just happened?" _

_Judging by Sherry's face, it seemed she was starting to feel better already, and she repeatedly closed and opened her eyes as she whispered, "Long story." _

"_Yeah? Maybe it's your blood they should be testing for vaccines." _

"_They already did," Sherry explained, "More than I could stand." There was more to the story, Jake realized, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to know what it was, and Sherry didn't explain any further. Instead, she stood up, grabbed her cell phone, and began waving it frantically in the air. _

"_What are you doing?" Jake asked. _

"_The data's gone!" Sherry retorted. _

"_Data?" the mercenary echoed in confusion, "What data?" _

"_Your data! Your blood analysis, your genome, everything that we need to make a vaccine!" _

"_No! You mean everything I need to get my fifty million!" No matter what he might have felt earlier when he thought Sherry was going to die, money would always be his number one priority. So what if Fagan and her sister didn't take to that very well, which they obviously didn't? That was just how things were for him in his line of work, and he was not about to let this opportunity escape him. _

"_Well," he said, gesturing to Sherry, "Come on, Super Girl. Let's get lookin'." _

* * *

"Okay, spread out," Chris ordered as we finally arrived at the City Hall, "Search this place top to bottom."

"Eww," Alexis whispered, wrinkling her nose as we emerged into the foyer.

Looking around, I had to agree with my sister. The room was bathed in an eerie, yellow-green light, and some sort of growth seemed to take up most of the floor and wall space to the point where we had to walk on tip toes. That wasn't even the worst part, though. No. The worst part was discovering the cocoon-like formations all over the room.

"Are these…_people_?" Finn asked in a quiet voice, making Alexis cover her mouth and look away.

All I could do was nod in response. Some had their hands stretched out, almost in a plea for help, and I gripped my machine gun tightly to keep myself together. I had seen sights like this before, but the horror of the situation never got old.

"I'm picking up life form readings," Piers announced as he stepped closer to one of the structures, "It's like they're in cocoons."

_Yeah, that sounds about right, _I thought, _Only I don't think it's butterflies that are gonna come out of those things. _

"Suck it up, Finn," I heard the rookie whisper to himself in a voice tinged with sadness, "Just like Piers said. Just suck it up."

"Finn?" I asked gently, "You okay?"

Finn looked up at me and smiled sadly. "I'm fine, thanks," he assured me, "I'll go check the second floor." He hurried up the stairs next to us, and Alexis and I approached the cocoon Piers was investigating.

"Never seen anything like this before," I commented, prodding some of the growth on the floor with my gun, "The only time I ever saw any sort of growth was with the Reapers in Africa, but never…people."

"Reapers?" Alexis echoed.

"Insect BOWs," I quickly explained to her, "They reminded me of cockroaches, and were extremely deadly. Chris, Sheva, and I always knew they were around whenever we saw something similar to this." I gestured to the substance on the ground.

"But that was from the Uroboros virus," I continued, "This doesn't look like that at all."

"Only one way to find out," Alexis said, "We keep looking."

We backed away from the cocoon and turned towards Piers, who at first seemed to be listening in on our conversation, but then proceeded to ignore us again while searching the foyer with Chris.

"You know," Alexis whispered as she watched him, "Maybe if you just told him your side of the story, he would see we're not a threat and he wouldn't be so aloof around us."

I scoffed. "Yeah, like he'll listen to me," I said, "He already thinks I'm plotting to kill Chris as we speak."

Still, maybe it wouldn't hurt to try and explain myself. Although I didn't anticipate ever befriending Piers Nivans, maybe we could at least have a peaceful existence after this mission.

"Who's there?" we suddenly heard Finn shout from upstairs, and we all stopped what we were doing to raise our weapons in the air. I hadn't heard anything, but I wouldn't let my guard down in this room.

One of the other BSAA agents hurried up the stairs, and a few seconds later, he announced, "Over here! I'm getting a reading on the other side of this door!"

"All right," Chris replied, "Piers, Finn, Audrey, Alexis, you're with me. Everyone else, keep searching out here."

Piers ran ahead of us to call it in to HQ that a few agents would be splitting off from the team while Alexis and I ran to catch up with the others. No doubt Chris was only bringing the two of us along to make sure we wouldn't snap and kill any of the other agents while he was gone. Or more specifically, _I _wouldn't snap.

I sighed. This was what my past actions had come to, and not for the first time, I wished I had never fallen for Albert Wesker's tricks. No matter how much I said otherwise, nobody would ever completely trust me again.

"We appreciate your help, Chris," Alexis spoke up while Finn blew the door off its hinges, "But we're okay now. Really."

"I know, Audrey told me a while ago," Chris said, "But since you're technically not authorized to be here, I think it would be better to keep you two close. Besides, I have more questions for you after this mission is over."

_Joy, _I thought, and we fell silent as we entered the darkened hallways. This was a complete change from the gunfire and explosions in the streets, and now that there was hardly any sound, I could hear every creak of the floor and the wind howling outside.

While Chris, Piers, Finn, and Alexis dashed into a side room, I paused as I thought I saw a flash of red up ahead. "Huh?" I whispered to myself, raising my gun and splitting off from the rest of the group. A little bit of sunlight poked through some broken pieces of the wall next to me, but it quickly disappeared as I rounded the corner.

_Slam! _A door to my right slammed shut, and I jumped a little bit, continuing to creep along until I found a door that just wouldn't budge.

"Audrey!" Alexis shouted from somewhere behind me.

"Over here!" I called out, and soon, the others were rejoining me.

"Why'd you split off from the rest of the group?" Finn asked.

I jutted my chin towards the door. "I saw someone before, and I went to follow them, but they disappeared through here."

"Next time, just be sure to let us know first," Chris said, and I nodded and stepped back as he and Piers kicked the door down. We silently jumped down to the floor below us, which contained more of those cocoons from earlier.

"Oh my God!" Alexis suddenly petitioned, and we all whirled around as she scrambled away from one of the structures.

"Shit, it's hatching!" Piers cried, "Finn, call it into HQ!"

"Open fire!" Chris commanded, and we all pointed our weapons at this new BOW and began shooting at it. It was a lot smaller than the Ogroman, but it was still a brutish monster in its own right. Its bulbous back pulsed, and there seemed to be some sort of armor around it.

I glanced over at Chris, who was now using an assault shotgun he must have picked up in that side room, and I skirted around him to see if there were any weak spots on this BOW's back.

"HQ just got back to me with some quick research on this thing!" Finn yelled over the gunfire, "They're calling it a 'Napad'!"

"Napad?" I echoed, but I didn't get to finish my sentence, for a crackling sound reached my ears. I dashed away from Chris's fight with the BOW in time to see another horrifying sight.

"Holy crap, there's another one!" I screamed.

"Look out!" Finn shouted, but before I could leap out of the way, I felt the Napad grab my ankle.

"Audrey!" Alexis cried, running over to me as the BOW tried to pull me towards it.

"Damn it!" I cursed, shooting the Napad in the face. Alexis soon joined up with me and managed to destroy a good chunk of its armor in time to get it to let go of me.

"You okay?" my sister asked as I stood up.

"Yeah, I'm okay," I told her, "Thank you." She smiled and patted my back, and we glanced over to where Chris and Piers were in time to see the first Napad fall down dead.

"There's another one hatching, Captain!" Finn announced from the other side of the room, and sure enough, a new one was going after the rookie just like the second one had tried to attack me.

Eventually, the five of us managed to bring the second Napad down before turning our attention to the last one. It began swinging its arms, which surprisingly covered a lot of space, and we had to back up in order to avoid it. I didn't even want to think about the pain the men had gone through before they turned into these BOWs. In a way, it reminded me of Excella Gionne's transformation, the way she had been in intense pain. Alexis had actually watched Wesker infect her, but she never liked to talk about it, so I never brought it up.

"All BOWs are neutralized!" Piers reported to HQ a few minutes later when the final Napad was down, "We're going even further into the building now."

I gulped, but reloaded my machine gun as Finn blew the door in the corner off its hinges. The longer we traveled, the more this began to feel like the old days in the BSAA, before Chris and I had any conflicts with each other. I found myself missing those days more and more.

"All clear!" Chris cried, "Come on!"

* * *

As soon as we entered the small room at the end of the hallway, the first thing we noticed were all the empty syringes on the floor. Piers immediately ran over to one and picked it up.

"Captain," he said, showing it to Chris, and he began to study it, leaving me to wonder what could have possibly been in there.

"C-Virus," a voice suddenly spoke up, and with that, all of us raised our weapons as we heard the click clacking of high heels. To me, however, that voice sounded very familiar. One I hadn't heard in God knew _how _long.

"That's what the guerillas were calling it," the same voice continued, "Nice to see the cavalry's here."

With that, a woman wearing boots, a blue dress, and a red scarf appeared as she stepped forward, cautiously raising her hands in the air. She had short, black hair, and as soon as she met all our gazes, I gasped as I recognized her. _No, _I thought, _It's been so long. It can't be… _

"Who are you?" Piers asked.

"I work here," the woman explained, "My name is Ada Wong. They held me hostage."

_Ada! _I thought, nearly dropping my machine gun in shock. I couldn't believe it. _Ada Wong_ was actually here in _Edonia_! After Spain, I never thought I would see her again, but now…

Ada flicked her gaze down to the syringes, and Chris studied the one in his hands again.

"C-Virus," he muttered, "That must be what's creating those J'avo."

"That also must have been that so-called energy booster Jake mentioned earlier," Alexis whispered to me, "Those soldiers must have injected themselves with it by accident."

"Yeah, I heard them saying something about that," Ada quipped in response to Chris.

"What else did you hear?" Piers asked in a suspicious tone.

Ada put her hands down and cautiously approached us. "Maybe you could put your guns down first," she suggested, but Chris, Piers, Finn, and Alexis kept them raised. I half-raised mine, fearing that the others were going to end up actually shooting her.

"Not until you give us a reason to," Chris growled, and Ada sighed as she raised her hands again. She looked more and more impatient as she met our gazes again and uttered one phrase.

"Neo-Umbrella."

I gasped. Neo-Umbrella?

"Neo-Umbrella?" Chris echoed.

"The organization supporting the guerillas," Ada explained, "Or at least, I _think _that's what they were calling themselves."

"So the C-Virus came from them," Piers deduced.

Ada shrugged. "That's all I know."

While the others continued to take in every word she was saying, I couldn't help but frown. I wasn't sure what it was, but something didn't seem right about Ada Wong. Granted, I didn't know her very well, either, but the little I did remember about her didn't seem to be adding up now. The fact that Ada was just freely giving out information, even if it was possibly a lie…that didn't sound like her at all. And why would she let herself be held hostage? I didn't think Ada was the type to let herself be put in danger like this.

"Thank you," Chris thanked her, "We appreciate your cooperation. Finn!"

Finn moved to stand next to Chris.

"You're in charge of keeping her safe."

"Yes, sir!" Finn replied with a little too much enthusiasm, and he promptly joined Ada at her side. She just folded her arms and looked down at the ground while we prepared to leave the room.

"Keep an eye on her," Chris whispered to Piers, and I was glad to see that someone else was as suspicious towards her like I was. Or at least, some of the heat was being taken off me for a while.

"Will do," Piers said, and he approached her and Finn as well.

"Come on!" Ada called out to us, "I'll show you a quick way back to the entrance!" She pulled out a gun and ran ahead of us, and I immediately sprinted after her. When I finally caught up with her, I took a deep breath and folded my hands.

"So this is what you've been up to with your top secret mission all these years, huh?" I said to her.

Ada raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?" she replied, and I flinched, taken aback by her response.

"Don't you recognize me, Ada?" I whispered, "It's me, Audrey Fagan! From Spain, remember? Saddler? Krauser? _Leon_?"

Although I hadn't interacted with Ada as much during my days with Wesker, she had ended up saving me from Krauser's wrath on Saddler's island, as well as basically confessing her feelings for Leon to me. Needless to say, it was one of those brief, but meaningful bonds. One that was not easy to forget. Then again, everyone thought I was dead for years before I reemerged in the BSAA, so maybe she had thought the same and was just surprised to see I was alive.

"I've dealt with all kinds of people, young lady," Ada replied, "You expect me to remember each one?" She gave me a small smirk, and I couldn't help but feel crestfallen. But knowing Ada Wong, she could have been doing this for the BSAA's benefit. Somehow, I didn't think so, though, and the nagging suspicion that something was wrong ate away at the back of my mind.

"You know her, too?" Piers asked, turning to me with the same suspicious look he was giving Ada.

I faced him after he and Chris kicked the door down to get back to the foyer. "Yeah," I answered, glancing at Ada again, "At least, I thought I did."

By the time we found the other agents, we were in for a surprise: the whole room was filled with Napads! "Damn," Alexis whispered.

"Shit, they're everywhere!" Chris cursed while we watched the other agents run around the room to try and neutralize them.

"We'll never get out!" Finn cried, but Ada seemed to already have the answer. She glanced up at the second floor as one of the BSAA agents waved to us.

"There's a way out on the second floor," she said, "I suggest we take it." She moved to the front of the group again, and I sighed in disappointment. I grabbed my machine gun and followed the others up the stairs, and I managed to catch up with Alexis again.

"So that's Ada Wong from Raccoon City and Spain?" she whispered to me.

"Yeah, but she didn't remember me," I whispered back.

Alexis shrugged. "Maybe she's just stressed from being held hostage."

"I don't know, Alexis. Something doesn't feel right with this picture…"

She shrugged again, and we hurried into the hallway up ahead, along with Ada, Chris, Piers, Finn, and four of the others. Ada pushed a button on the wall, which caused the door to slide down and shut itself, leaving the rest of the agents on the other side.

"Your friends are having a hard time," she commented.

"M'am, please, just try to stay out of the way," Piers replied, and I just glanced at Ada again. Why was she acting so strange? I knew due to her line of work that she was a very elusive woman, but this was completely different.

Up ahead, more cocoons hatched, releasing lizard-like BOWs that looked to hinder our progress. Though we had more than enough firepower, they were still tough to take down, and while we fought our way through the new BOWs, I wondered how Jake and Sherry were doing. We had not heard from them or the Echo pilots in a while, and I wondered where they were and if they had made it safely out of Edonia yet.

Maybe Jake was one of the things Chris wanted to ask us about once we were finished with this mission. He obviously must have seen the mercenary's uncanny resemblance to Wesker. Maybe he wanted to make sure he wasn't the only one who noticed it.

Once all the BOWs were cleared out of this room, we hurried through another dark, foreboding hallway, and Ada continued to lead the way, directing us all on the correct path if any of us got sidetracked.

"I can't wait to get out of here," Finn said to me and Alexis once we managed to catch up with him, Ada, Chris, and Piers, "So I can send another letter to my mom. She was so nervous when I told her I was being shipped out to Edonia, but I can't wait to go home and surprise her with my first completed mission. Maybe I'll get her something from a nearby town."

"You really miss her, huh?" I asked, "Well, don't worry, Finn. You'll see her soon, and she'll be so proud of you."

"She's the one who told me to be more outgoing around Captain Redfield. She's always been really supportive of me, you know?"

I smiled, and while Alexis and Finn continued the conversation, I thought about the possible aftermath of this mission. I didn't know what would happen to me or my sister, but I hoped we would at least be able to keep in touch with Finn somehow.

Up ahead, Chris and Piers opened another door, allowing all of us to pour into the narrow hallway. We raised our weapons in front of us and patrolled the area, making sure there weren't any surprise BOWs in our path. So far, it was all clear.

Suddenly, Piers turned around, eyeing the rest of our team suspiciously, and when I glanced over my shoulder as well, I realized someone was missing.

"The woman!" Piers gasped, "She's gone! Finn!"

We all faced the rookie, who widened his eyes in shock and appeared to return to his timid personality. "I-I don't know what happened!" he stammered, "She was here a second ago!"

"_Shit_," Piers cursed under his breath.

Now _this _was more like Ada: randomly disappearing, only this time, it made my stomach turn. While I at least had somewhat of an idea of what she was doing in Spain, this time, I wasn't sure at all.

"Guys, the ceiling!" Chris yelled, pointing up at a gate that looked like it was ready to fall down right on top of us.

"Look out!" Alexis cried, giving me a shove which caused me to land on the ground next to Chris.

"Alexis!" I screamed, reaching out to grab her just in time as the gate slammed into the ground, cutting the four of us off from the rest of the team.

"Damn it!" Piers cursed again, rushing up to the gate and reaching out to Finn and the others.

"Carl, you okay?" Chris asked, "Ben? Andy? Finn?"

Finn shook his head, but before any of us could say anything, the door on the opposite side swung shut, leaving the four BSAA agents trapped. "What the hell?" Alexis whispered.

The clicking of high heels once again grabbed my attention, and I suddenly felt sick all over again as I realized who was behind this.

"Ada!" Chris growled, as he, Piers, and the others pointed their guns at her. I just gripped the iron bars on the gate, looking down at the ground and refusing to believe what was happening.

Sure enough, Ada stepped up to the door and smirked, and I raised my head up to face her with a look of disbelief on my face.

"Thanks for the escort," she said, "Here's something to remember me by." With that, she tossed a metal ball through the door, and as it sailed in the air, it opened up to reveal needles poking out from every part.

"AHH!" the BSAA agents screamed as the needles flew out and poked all four of them, causing them to clutch their necks as they howled in pain. We watched, horrified, as they collapsed to the ground, and what made it even worse was that we were trapped on the other side. There was nothing we could do to help them.

"Ada, _what the fuck did you just do?_" I yelled at her, rattling the bars in my anger and shock. She merely gave me a withering stare, turned, and walked away.

"No!" I screamed, "Get back here!" But I was too late.

Meanwhile, the pain the agents were experiencing wasn't going away, and Finn staggered near the gate as he hunched over.

"No," Chris hissed, pounding his fist on the gate, "No, God damn it, _no_!"

"What the hell?" Alexis repeated, her voice raising a few octaves, "What's happening to them?"

Finn staggered closer to us, and he looked up in time to meet our gazes, tears of pain running down his face as his body suddenly caught on fire. "NO!" I cried, my voice breaking, "_Finn_!"

"Finn!" Chris was also shouting, "Finn, hang in there!"

Piers was the only one who didn't comment, but I could see it on his face that he was just as horrified as we were, but doing his best to stay calm while trying to find a way to open the gate again.

Finn's body began to change until it looked more like the growth we had examined in the foyer, and behind him, the other soldiers' bodies burst into flames in the same manner. "Not like this," Chris muttered to himself, "No, _God damn it_!"

"C-cap…captain…" Finn choked, nearing the gate as the growth continued to spread.

"_Finn!_" Chris screamed for the last time, reaching for the rookie's hand. He was almost in reach when the growth on Finn hardened into the protective cocoon we had seen earlier, and soon, the others followed suit.

"No," I whispered, feeling my throat burn as tears blurred my vision. Chris looked devastated and sighed as he slumped down to the ground in silence, which seemed so much worse than just completely breaking down. In fact, the whole room was eerily quiet, the silence only being broken by Alexis's crying. I just hugged her, though neither of us felt any better about what had happened to these four BSAA agents.

"I promised to make sure they all got through this alive," Chris whispered to himself, "And I failed them. I failed all of them."

None of us knew what to say to that, so we only remained silent as we thought about what to do now. The truth was, we really didn't know. The deaths of all four BSAA agents was enough to throw us completely off for a while.

Suddenly, the cocoon that contained Finn began to hatch, his back bubbling before bursting open. We all looked up again, a new wave of horror replacing our tears. "Damn it, _no_!" I cursed. _Finn does not deserve to go out like this, _I thought, _None of them do._

"Captain, we've gotta move!" Piers yelled at Chris, who was still in a bit of a daze. While the cocoon continued to crack open, we backed up and raised our weapons, even though this all felt wrong. How had it come to this?

Where Finn had been standing, a Napad took his place, roaring as it flexed its massive arms while the gate reopened and slid back up to the ceiling. Behind him, we saw three more hatching as well, and Piers backed away while Chris hesitated.

"Now, we've gotta go!" he insisted, and Chris reluctantly turned to follow him, unwilling to shoot the Napad in front of us.

"Finn," Alexis whispered in a miserable tone as she watched his new BOW form roar.

"There's nothing we can do for him, Lex," I said to her, grabbing her arm, "We have to leave!"

Before any of us could get too far, however, the Napad crouched down, sprinted towards us, and slammed into us, knocking all four of us down to the ground. This one was particularly strong due to having recently been created, and I felt my head pound again and the wind get knocked out of me.

The floor shook as the BOW approached our group again, grabbing Chris and holding him in its bulbous hands. "NO!" Alexis cried, and I scrambled for my gun while the Napad began to slam Chris back and forth against the walls.

I tried to shoot at the armor on the BOW's back, but I was scared I was going to miss and hit Chris instead. The Napad that was once Finn continued to toss him around like a rag doll before slamming him onto the ground. I gulped; I hadn't seen Chris Redfield get his ass kicked like this since we fought against Wesker in Africa, and the way his head hit the floor and arched back…that could have broken his neck!

"_Chris_!" Piers cried, making me jump as I realized that was the second time he hadn't addressed him as Captain. He pointed his gun at the Napad and began shooting while he dragged Chris's unconscious body away.

"HQ!" he shouted into his headset, "We've lost all of Alpha Team and they've been turned into BOWs. Captain Redfield is hurt. I repeat, Captain Redfield is hurt! We need backup _now_!"

"Piers, they're gaining on us!" Alexis hollered, grabbing me in order to yank me out of the path of the army of Napads.

"I know, just move!" Piers replied, continuing to drag Chris to safety. While he did that, the two of us opened fire on the rest of the BOWs, hoping to lure them out into the open so that backup could arrive. _Come on, Chris, _I thought, glancing at the fallen BSAA legend, _Hang in there. You can do it! _

"Almost there!" Piers said, "Keep shooting!"

I fumbled as I reloaded my machine gun and managed to break through the armor on the Napad's back. It stumbled, roared, and then began running towards me, and for a second, I hesitated to shoot it, seeing Finn's face flash before me.

_No, Audrey, _I told myself, _That's not Finn. That's not him anymore. Like you told Alexis. _

"_Alpha, this is HQ,_" HQ replied a few minutes later once we finally emerged outside again, "_Preparing to open fire on all BOWs. Take cover._"

The streets were chaotic, and the Napads were still on our tails, but fortunately, reinforcements from the BSAA arrived just in time. The blades of the helicopters roared above our heads, and a few guns appeared from the bottoms of the jets.

"Get down!" Piers shouted, and he immediately fell, protecting Chris's body while Alexis and I crouched near him as well and covered our heads.

_Boom! _The ground shook, and Alexis screamed as the Napads roared again, succumbing to the gunfire from the BSAA choppers. My ears began ringing again, and I wondered if this was the moment when I was officially going to lose my hearing.

The explosions didn't seem to stop, but the worst of it was over as soon as it started, and everything quieted down once again as the full weight of what had just happened settled in.

Chris and Piers' entire team was gone. Just like _that_. _Ada, _I thought, clenching my fist as I stood up again, _Why did you do this? _

"Are you all right?" one of the leaders of the backup team asked Piers, gripping his arm as the sniper backed away from Chris.

For the first time, Piers looked lost, as if he didn't know what to do now. To me, it was clear he relied on Chris, and now that his Captain was hurt…

"I'm fine," he assured them, "It's Captain Redfield I'm worried about. We were led into a trap by a woman named Ada Wong. She infected the rest of our team with the C-Virus. One of the BOWs knocked the Captain unconscious."

A woman stepped forward, and from her uniform, I could see she was a BSAA medic. She knelt down by Chris's body and checked his wrist and neck. "He's still got a pulse," she announced, "I need a stretcher for Captain Redfield ASAP! We'll take you both to the hospital."

Piers nodded, but didn't take his eyes off Chris, even as a few other paramedics arrived and lifted Chris onto the gurney. They proceeded to wheel him towards another helicopter, and once he was safely inside, they began to airlift him to the closest hospital. "What do we do now?" Alexis whispered to me.

I wondered the same thing. As much as it would be easy to do so, we couldn't just walk away from Chris and the BSAA. It wouldn't feel right, and if we did just disappear, they would just catch up to us and I would be in even more trouble than I already was.

Piers finally looked up and met our gazes. "You said you knew Ada Wong," he recalled, pointing at me, "What else do you know about her?"

_NO! _I thought, _This cannot be happening right now! _"Nothing!" I insisted, "And that's one hundred percent the truth!"

"Mr. Nivans, who are these two?" the man leading the team asked, fixing us with a confused stare.

"We're just two women who got involved with the wrong people," I replied, "Make of that what you will."

"They were with Captain Redfield in Kijuju, sir," Piers reported, "Three years ago. Audrey and Alexis Fagan. Audrey…aided bioterrorist Albert Wesker in Spain in 2004 and falsified her papers in the BSAA. She was discharged after the Captain found out about it."

"Is that true, Miss Fagan?" the agent inquired, facing me, and I looked him directly in the eye.

"Yes," I said, "It's true, though I have very good reasons for doing what I did."

"Either way, we're going to have to take you in for questioning. We'll bring you to the hospital to get you treated for any injuries, and then we're going to have to question you." One of the other agents reached for a pair of handcuffs and began to approach me.

"Wait a minute!" Alexis spoke up, stepping forward and throwing her hand up in the air.

"What are you doing?" I whispered, but she ignored me.

"If you're going to arrest her, then arrest me, too. It's not fair to place all the blame on her. I helped Wesker spread the Uroboros virus in Kijuju."

"Alexis, don't," I spoke up, but she cut me off.

"No, little sis," she interrupted me in a quiet voice, "You've done so much for me already, and it's time for me to return the favor. I'm not going to let you go through this alone."

"But what you did wasn't your fault!" I protested, "Don't throw everything away just for me."

But she merely shook her head. "We're in this together," she said, "Like we said before. That's not going to change."

"So you're both confessing to aiding Albert Wesker in his acts of bioterrorism?" Piers asked.

I locked eyes with him as well as I frowned. "You can hear our sides of the story later," I told him, "But yes, we are."

Piers just shook his head, clutched his arm, and headed for the chopper as the rest of the agents moved forward and slapped handcuffs on both me and Alexis. "All right, ladies," they said, "Let's go."

I felt one of them take my arm as they escorted both of us to the helicopter that Piers was boarding. "Alexis?" I whispered.

She looked up.

"Thank you."

"No problem," she said, winking, and as we climbed into the chopper with Piers, my thoughts turned back to Chris, who I knew was fighting to stay alive right now. I just prayed that he didn't suffer any major internal injuries or broken bones after the way the Napad had tossed him around before.

My stomach lurched a little bit as the helicopter rose into the air to leave Edonia, and even though I couldn't stand him, I wondered how Jake was faring for a second time. _Jake, Sherry, _I thought to myself, _Wherever you are, I hope you guys are making better progress than we are._


	5. Cry Wolf and the Ugly Truth

All right! The next chapter of "Divide and Conquer" is here! I'm sorry for the long gap in updating. Things got pretty busy around here, but school's out now, so I should have more time to update! Thanks again to everyone who's been reading, reviewing, favoriting, and alerting this story! We're getting closer to the events in Tall Oaks and Lanshiang, which should start in a couple of chapters! I've pretty much got everything planned out as far as how I'm going to incorporate all the campaigns for the rest of this story, so all that's left for me is to actually write it out. Thanks again, everyone! :)

**DISCLAIMER: **Only my OCs, plot ideas, and slight changes from the original game are mine. Everything else, including some of the dialogue, belongs to Capcom.

* * *

Damn, it's cold out there, _Jake thought as he finished tossing some wood into the lone fireplace in the local cabin. He exhaled and rubbed his hands, even though he wore gloves, and he could see Sherry was just starting to shake out the numbness in her hands. He watched as she reached for the three recovered data chips they had lost after the crash, and satisfied, she placed them in a safe compartment in her pocket. It had been hell trying to get to the three locations, but they had managed, and now they could go back to figuring out how to get out of Edonia. _

_ Ever since discovering Sherry's regenerative abilities, Jake had to admit he was curious about her. She was no ordinary government agent, and he wasn't sure whether or not he should try asking about her powers again. Even before meeting Sherry, he had always suspected that he had some crazy, superhuman abilities, like his strength and agility. The other Edonian mercenaries had always commented on how whenever he sprinted, it was almost like he was teleporting. Either way, it was kind of nice to see someone that was almost…well, almost like him. _

_ Once he was finished setting up the fireplace, Jake took out his lighter and began repeatedly flicking it open and then closing it again, just to have something to do with his hands. He hadn't had a cigarette since this whole adventure started, and he had lost his current pack in his haste to get away from the Ustanak earlier. Sherry just paced back and forth with her arms crossed, glancing at the mercenary every now and then. Neither one of them said anything, but it wasn't an uncomfortable silence. "I'll go get help," she eventually suggested, "It can't be that much further to the rendezvous." She hurried over to the door and reached out to open it. _

_ "Wait!" Jake cried, leaping in front of her as a little bit of snow blew into the cabin. The cold wind whipped outside, making it difficult for them to shut the door, but they eventually managed to do so. _

_ Sherry eventually went to sit down by the fireplace again, and Jake looked out the window, watching for any signs of danger. So far, everything seemed to check out okay, but he never let his guard down. He glanced over his shoulder at Sherry and debated whether or not he should go sit with her. _Guess it wouldn't hurt, _he decided to himself, taking a seat next to her on the floor. _

_ "So," he began tentatively, "You always been like that? The whole 'healing' thing?" Although Jake didn't consider himself to be socially awkward, he realized it had been a long time since he had tried to initiate a conversation with someone that wasn't about money or a job. _

_ "My dad was a scientist," Sherry answered, "He was working on BOWs when I was exposed. Luckily, I was treated with the vaccine before it was too late, but the virus adjusted and adapted. It's been a part of me ever since." _

_ "What happened to your father?" _

_ "His research killed him," Sherry said almost immediately, though her voice sounded a lot sadder, "By the time he died, his body had mutated so much…he wasn't even recognizable." No need to add that she had also lost her mother in the same time frame. Even years later, those were still painful memories that she would have preferred not to revisit. _

_ All of a sudden, something in Jake seemed to change, and Sherry noticed he wore a look of regret on his face. And Jake did feel a twinge of sadness. He knew what it was like to lose a parent all too well. "Sorry," he apologized in a genuinely contrite tone, "I…I didn't mean to…" _

_ "That's all right," Sherry assured him, "Besides, I didn't walk out of it empty-handed." _

_ "Yeah, you got superpowers," Jake joked, putting a small smile on Sherry's face. _

_ "That's not what I meant," she said, "The people that saved me, Leon and Claire, are the closest friends I've ever had." _

_ "Claire's that BSAA guy's sister, right?" _

_ Sherry nodded, and Jake continued to listen to what she was saying, banishing all thoughts of Chris out of his mind. _

_ "They risked their lives for me back in Raccoon City," Sherry continued, "I guess I'm still just trying to live up to their example. Never giving up, no matter the odds." _

_ Another wave of silence fell over Jake and Sherry as they just studied each other, and as Jake took in her story, he wondered if he should let her in on a little bit of his own past. He thought about his own mother, a red-headed Edonian woman named Nadia Muller. She had been the only person he loved before her untimely passing, and ever since then, he had not been close with anyone, not even the mercenaries he worked with in order to try and provide for her. _

_ He couldn't say the same about his father, though. Other than the fact that he had abandoned them twenty years ago, Jake knew nothing about his other parent, and if he really thought about it, he didn't think he wanted to know. His mother had loved him, though the mercenary couldn't see why; he was just a deadbeat who didn't want anything to do with them. A very minute part of him wished he had at least asked for his father's name before Nadia passed away, but it was too late now, and he no longer cared about who that man was. _

_ Before Jake could decide whether or not to tell Sherry anything, he suddenly got a bad feeling in his gut, leaping forward to shield the other agent from the random gunfire that broke the large window by the door. "Speaking of odds…" he mumbled, getting up in time to see a bunch of J'avo waiting for them outside. There were all sorts of tanks parked in the snow, with soldiers pointing their guns at the cabin. _

_ "Looks like we've got some party crashers!" he cried, reloading his handgun, "But this cabin's invitation only." _

* * *

_**Meanwhile-Belgrade, Serbia…**_

"There you go," the nurse said to me in accented English as she wrapped a bandage around my ankle that I had nearly twisted during my haste to escape the very first Ogroman.

"_Hvala_," I replied, thanking her in the one Serbian word I had managed to pick up since we crossed the border a while ago. After that, I stood up, feeling the discomfort that had disappeared during the mission. Now that my body was no longer under stress, all the pain was returning what felt like tenfold.

I slowly made my way back to the waiting room of the hospital we had decided to go to, where Alexis and some of the BSAA agents plus one who had introduced himself as Edward Bennett were waiting. "Where's Piers?" I asked as I sat down next to my sister.

"Some of the nurses are looking him over now," she reported, "He looked okay, but there could be some hidden injury we didn't see before."

"How about you? Are you okay?"

Alexis smiled weakly and gave me the thumbs up sign. "A-okay," she said, and I returned the grin before it faded once again.

"What about Chris?" I questioned, "I haven't seen him since we got here."

"Me neither, but I'm sure he'll be fine."

"I hope so. Ada really screwed him over back there." My stomach sank as I thought about Ada Wong once again. What she had done to those poor BSAA agents just didn't make any sense to me. Okay, so she was a very morally ambiguous person to begin with, but I always thought her heart was somehow in the right place. After Edonia, however…I just didn't know what to think anymore. The same woman who had consoled me after Krauser's death, even when she didn't have to, had just murdered four men without even blinking an eye.

"You know," I said, "I can just imagine what Krauser would say if he was still alive. 'See, kid? I told you she was bad news! I knew I was right about her, kid! And you didn't wanna believe me!'"

"You really think so?" Alexis asked, "I mean, from what you've said, he sounded pretty paranoid in general, even about you."

I nodded. "I know, but he never liked her, and I know he'd have a field day about this. I just still can't believe she killed those agents earlier. I thought I had her somewhat figured out after Spain…"

Alexis exhaled, frowning at me as she wrapped her arm around me. "She's not who you thought she was, then, but there's no sense in worrying about it. The BSAA won't let this one go, and they'll track her down somehow. You can be sure of that."

I sighed. "Got that right. If they can take us into custody for stuff we did years ago, I can only imagine what sort of hell they'll give her."

I shook my head as I remembered how Krauser had once called her the "Bitch in the Red Dress". _I guess she's the Bitch in the Blue Dress now, _I thought with another melancholy sigh.

The two of us remained silent, only listening to the hustle and bustle of various nurses, doctors, surgeons, visitors, and patients around us. Piers and Chris were still not back, and I just rested my chin in my hands and glanced down at the floor. Piers would be all right. I knew he would be. It was Chris I was worried about. _Please be okay, Chris, _I thought, _You're a survivor. I know you are. _

In the meantime, I thought about how we were sitting here in the BSAA's custody. I still couldn't believe Alexis had decided to throw away her chance at freedom for me, but I was grateful for the support all the same.

"Do you think Chris didn't tell Piers your exact reasons for lying to him in Africa?" Alexis suddenly asked.

I shrugged for what felt like the umpteenth time over the last day. "I don't know," I said, "If he didn't, maybe he thought it was too personal a reason and didn't think it was anyone's business. Either way, whenever he gets better, we'll find out for sure."

It was almost as if talking about either Piers or his commanding officer somehow summoned the young marksman, for a side door suddenly opened, revealing him as he approached our group. "How are you feeling, Agent Nivans?" Bennett asked as Piers collapsed in a chair next to me.

"Fine," he said, "Just some cuts and bruises, but I'll live. Any word on Captain Redfield yet?"

"No, nothing. Just try and relax, okay? He'll be fine."

Piers ran a hand through his hair, sighing and leaning back in his chair, but he never relaxed. It seemed he wouldn't until he knew more about Chris.

"He's survived much worse," Alexis pointed out, "There's no need to worry. Really."

Right after she said that, a side door opened and a doctor entered the waiting room. I took in the long, white coat he was wearing, his dark brown hair that appeared to be going gray around the edges, and the age his face showed despite the fact that he didn't appear to look older than forty. "BSAA?" he asked, "Concerning Captain Christopher Redfield?"

We all looked up and raised our hands, with Piers immediately jumping up from his seat. "How is he, Doctor Jovanović?" he asked.

Doctor Jovanović nodded encouragingly. "He's got a long road to recovery, but he's in stable condition," he explained, "There was a wound on the back of his head, he's going to feel some effects from whiplash once he wakes up, and we're in the middle of fixing some areas of internal bleeding and a few broken ribs. Once we're finished with the remaining procedures, he will be allowed to have visitors."

Piers nodded, but sighed with relief at the same time. "Thank you, Doctor."

"You're welcome. Why don't you and your whole group go get something to eat downstairs in the cafeteria while you wait? I'll come find you when we have an update on Mr. Redfield."

Almost as if on cue, my stomach rumbled, and I clutched it to try and suppress the hunger. We had been in panic mode for so long that I had forgotten I hadn't eaten anything since before leaving to go to Chelsea's.

Some of the other agents stood up. "What the hell?" Bennett said, "Might as well do something while we wait."

* * *

Dinner in the cafeteria was a silent affair. None of us spoke at first, only taking in the various conversations around us, some of them in English and others in Serbian. I looked out the window, where the sky had completely darkened and high winds lashed snow against the glass. Some of the other patrons stared at us, but we just ignored them. Chris was still our main concern. Although the doctor said he was in stable condition, we were still worried about him.

Bennett and the others eventually struck up a quiet conversation, huddling close together, and Alexis and I just continued to share a rather large piece of apple pie, a salad, coffee, and a medium-sized piece of chicken. "Want some of this?" Alexis offered, holding out a piece of the apple pie.

"Sure, thanks," I said, taking it from her. I just chewed on a stray piece of apple, folding my hands together and staring at the table. This was the worst I had felt since thinking that Alexis had been dead on the tanker in Africa. I still couldn't shake Finn and the others' deaths, and even though I didn't know them, I still felt bad for them and wondered how the BSAA was going to break the bad news to their families.

"I'm going to get more coffee," Alexis decided, getting up, "Want some?"

I nodded, and she left the table, followed by Bennett, who I supposed was going to keep an eye on her to make sure she didn't run off.

I sighed and shook my head to myself. If only they knew. It wasn't like we could crash with any friends. There was Leon Kennedy, but I was sure he wouldn't welcome us with open arms, either. I knew we had called a truce as well in Spain, but in this world, it seemed that the bad things I'd done outweighed the good things.

I'd have to fix that somehow.

"Mind if I join you?"

I glanced up from the apple pie as Piers grabbed his plate of steak and vegetables and moved away from the others.

"I guess not," I said, shrugging noncommittally. Piers took a seat across from me and dragged his cup of water along with him. I refused to look at him, not in the mood to be treated like a pariah. So far, the BSAA hadn't treated us inhumanely, but that could change at any moment.

"Why are you sitting here, anyway?" I asked, breaking the silence, "I know what you think of me and my sister. I figured you wouldn't want to have anything to do with me."

Piers looked up and shook his head, pushing his plate aside. "Look, Audrey," he said, "I was just worried about Captain Redfield earlier. We lost our entire team today because of Ada Wong! Since you said you knew her, I only wanted some answers. Whatever you know about her could help us track her down."

"Oh, so now I can help the BSAA?" I replied, "When you were so quick to get rid of me earlier? I thought I wasn't supposed to be here in the first place."

"Lose the attitude," Piers snapped, "And you _weren't_, but you've got all this intel that you won't share with us, just like in Africa. What else are we supposed to do with you?"

I leaned forward in my seat until I was looking him straight in the eye again. Though he had appeared intimidating at first, I had dealt with people way more frightening than him, and that had somewhat diminished over the course of the day. "Just _trust _me when I say Alexis and I are completely harmless now," I said, "Besides, if I was gonna kill you, your Captain, or _anyone _in your squad, for that matter, I would have done it already."

"Doesn't matter," Piers said, "The Captain said you were unpredictable. He said that sometimes, even _you _didn't know when you were going to snap. We can't take our chances, which is something _you_ need to understand. You've been a threat to Captain Redfield in the past."

In a way, I could understand his hostility towards us, though that didn't mean he couldn't hear our side of the story as well. I could see that Piers held Chris in very high regards, and I knew that was most of why he didn't like me. "He's got a lot of respect for him," Finn had said what felt like ages ago now.

_Finn, _I thought, _I'm sorry about what happened to you and the others. _

"Audrey," Piers continued, "You have to give us _something_. You owe it to Captain Redfield, at least."

I sighed and glanced down at the table again, realizing again that Piers didn't believe me when I insisted I didn't know anything. _Well, this is a Boy Who Cried Wolf moment, isn't it? _I thought to myself. "Well, I'm telling you now that I don't have any information on Ada Wong," I replied, "I wasn't all that close to her in the days I knew her. And even if I _had _any intel on her, maybe I wouldn't want to tell you anyway."

"Why not?" the sniper asked, and I could hear it in his voice that he was growing increasingly impatient with me.

I glared at him. "Because no matter what I say or do, and no matter how much I try to redeem myself, you guys will never see me as anything other than a lying, scheming bioterrorist. Okay, so some of the things I did were of my own volition. I chose to lie to Chris about Wesker. I chose to create a fake identity and hide my criminal activity. But there's more to the story than just that. It's not like I _wanted _to do all those things, and everything I did was for a reason. Not necessarily a bad one, either."

"Everything okay here?"

We both looked up as Alexis and Bennett joined us again.

"Piers!" my sister gasped, "I didn't know you were sitting with us now."

"I was just trying to ask your sister a few questions about Ada Wong," Piers explained to her, "Do you know anything about her?"

"I've never met her before now," Alexis answered, "So no, I don't."

"I may have been acquainted with Miss Wong at one point in the past," I said, "But I did _not _know she was going to infect the rest of your team with the C-Virus. And that's the truth."

Piers seemed to consider what we were saying and looked down at his untouched plate in thought. "All right," he finally decided, "I'll give you that one. The way you reacted to the situation seems to fit that you had no knowledge about that. But it still doesn't let you off the hook for everything else."

We all briefly fell silent, but before I could reply to the sniper sitting across from me, I perked up at the sound of footsteps behind me. "Hi, Doctor," Piers greeted out of the blue, and we all turned to face Doctor Jovanović from earlier as he wore an oddly distressed expression on his face.

"Hello, Agent Nivans," he replied, "I'm glad you and the rest of the BSAA are still here. I wondered if you had decided to leave after all before I could catch you."

"Not until we know more about Captain Redfield," Piers retorted, "What's the verdict?"

Jovanović sighed, rubbing his eyes as he folded his hands together. "Is everything all right, Doctor?" Alexis pressed, "Were there any…complications?"

"No, no, there weren't," the doctor quickly assured us, "But I'm sorry to tell you that Captain Redfield's disappeared from the hospital."

"_What?_" we all gasped.

"But that's not possible!" I cried.

"We left him in his room about an hour ago to rest," Jovanović explained, "But when we went back to check on him a few minutes ago, he was gone. His IVs looked like he had unhooked them himself."

Piers, Alexis, Bennett, and I just exchanged glances, and Piers just sighed. I could tell he was even more anxious now, but he would never let it show on his face. "We have to find him, then," was all he said, "_Now_!"

"We have already called the police and given them a description. They are currently sweeping the city. The best you can do is leave until the police have any new leads. I have already told them to keep in touch with you."

* * *

_This is bad, _I thought, watching as Piers paced around the conference room at a hotel not too far from the hospital.

There was a tense silence among the others, and with the way Piers continued to pace back and forth, I thought he was going to make a hole in the floor. Over the last day, I had come to realize that was his little quirk for whenever he was thinking about something, and I could practically see the wheels turning in his head now. "What do we do now?" one of the other BSAA agents asked, and Alexis and I glanced at him, wondering the same thing. Finding Chris was the top priority at the moment, more so than interrogating me and my sister.

I hoped.

Finally, after another minute or two, Piers looked up and nodded. "Okay, here's what we're going to do," he announced, "Until we find Captain Redfield, I'll be taking over the team. While the Serbian police are looking for him, I'll get in touch with Captain Pearson of the European branch and see if they can help us find him, too. We'll need all the resources we can get. We're not leaving until we find him, and if we just stick together, we can all do this. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!" the others responded.

"We'll stay here for the time being," Piers continued, "Everyone, get some rest tonight, and in the morning, we'll begin our end of the search."

"Yes, sir," everyone else repeated, and they proceeded to file out to go back to their rooms. We got up to leave the room as well, leaving Piers alone by the fireplace as he took out his cell phone and began to punch in a number.

The two of us hurried upstairs in silence, returning to our room and taking in the two twin beds, the window that overlooked the rest of Belgrade, and the snow that continued to rage outside. At the last minute, we realized we didn't have any belongings with us, so I just kicked off my shoes and climbed into the bed closest to the window.

"Audrey?"

I faced my sister.

"Do you think Chris is okay? Wherever he is?"

"I'm sure he's fine," I assured her, "I don't know why he ran away, but I'm sure he's okay. The BSAA will find him."

"I hope so."

And with that, Alexis reached over, turned the light off, and closed her eyes to sleep. I stayed up for a few more minutes, watching her and remembering when she had gone missing after arriving here last time. Chris's disappearance eerily reminded me of that, and I recalled how that was one of the reasons I had joined the BSAA in the first place. I hadn't stopped until I found her, and if I could deduce anything about Piers Nivans, I was sure he wouldn't give up until his Captain was safe and sound again.

* * *

_There was just no end to the J'avo. _

_Jake cursed under his breath as he ran out of ammo for his Nine-Oh-Nine handgun. Next to him, Sherry wasn't having much luck, either, and she quickly rolled out of the way of another solider. All these mercenaries, who were once part of Jake's platoon. _

_He was just thankful he hadn't ended up like the rest of them. _

_Jake was just picking up some more ammo when he suddenly felt the ground shake violently. He nearly lost his balance, but quickly picked himself up again and ran outside, where a mound of snow was beginning to slide down the mountain and towards the cabin. _Shit, _he thought. "Sherry!" he cried. _

"_It's an avalanche!" she yelled in response, "Let's get out of here!" _

_Fortunately, there were two snowmobiles just up ahead, and Jake grabbed one while Sherry grabbed the other. He had never used a snowmobile before, but there was a always a first time for everything. _

"_Punch it!" he shouted, "Before we get buried alive!" _

_And with that, they began to accelerate, speeding away from the growing avalanche as they slid across the icy ground. The wind whipped their faces, and Jake kept his head down while trying to keep sight of the path in front of him. _Typical, _he thought, thinking of how it seemed like he was inundated with the worst luck in the world. Hell, even mother nature didn't want him to live. _

"_The whole mountain's coming down!" he yelled as he dodged some snow that was rushing down to his left, "God must really hate us today!" _

"_We'll make it!" Sherry assured him, "Just keep going! Anyway…I don't hate you!" She meant it, too. When she had explained her history with the G-Virus to Jake, he had listened attentively, something she hadn't expected after the way everyone else had treated him earlier. To her, there seemed to be more to the mercenary than met the eye, and she figured if the others had time to just sit down and talk to him, they would see that maybe he wasn't such a bad person after all. _

"_Oh, great!" Jake replied, "That helps!" _

_Still, it was a nice change of pace to be with someone who didn't either hate his guts or want him dead. _

_The two of them continued to maneuver their way down the mountain, avoiding trees and dodging the growing avalanche that was beginning to toss snow right in front of them from all directions. Jake felt his snowmobile slip and slide on the ice a few times, but he managed to regain control in time to jump from one cliff to another. The avalanche became even more violent now, nearly burying both adults and even causing some large pieces of rock to nearly fall on them as well. _

"_Jump!" Sherry yelled over the noise all around them, and she and Jake jumped off their snowmobiles, landing in the snow while the avalanche continued to rush towards them. _

_The two of them quickly picked themselves up and sprinted towards the nearest cave, already feeling bits of snow coat their backs as they launched themselves inside the tunnel up ahead. Jake felt the wind get knocked out of him as he collapsed to the ground. Sherry lay next to him while the snow from the avalanche covered the entrance, leaving them trapped inside, but thankfully, still alive. _

"_Are you okay?" Sherry asked as they both stood up. _

"_Don't worry about me," Jake replied, "I'm built like a tank." _

That's for sure, _Sherry thought, shaking her head. "Fine, I won't," she said, "Let's go." _

_The two of them began making their way through the caverns, the icy ground echoing underneath their feet until the sound bounced off the walls around them. _

"_Wow, nice acoustics," Jake commented, "Watch your step." For some reason, he wasn't getting a good feeling about this, but he tried to banish that thought. He and Sherry didn't need anymore bad luck today. _

_As soon as they entered the next part of the cave, Jake sighed and tried not to curse out loud at the sight below them. The Ustanak stood in the middle of the cave as a flying BOW patrolled the area, emitting some sort of blue light. _Of course he survived the crash from earlier, _he thought. "I wonder what those bugs are," Sherry whispered. _

_Her question was soon answered seconds later. Down below, they spotted a man entering the room from the opposite side only to have the Oko spot him. The blue light on its body switched to red as it let out a shriek, which alerted the Ustanak to the man's presence. _Great, _Jake thought sarcastically, looking away as the Ustanak killed the intruder, revealing that he was carrying a key card in his hands. _

"_Guess we'll need to get that key card," Sherry whispered. _

"_Jesus Christ," Jake commented in response, "What does it take to kill that thing?" He began making his way down a path to his left, only to find more Oko BOWs flying around. _

"_I think he's using those bugs to sniff us out," Sherry realized, "Be careful." _

* * *

_**A while later…**_

Everything is falling into place now, _Ada thought as she walked through the woods not too far from the caverns. She smirked to herself. She could tell the Ustanak was very active in this area, which made her realize Jake Muller and Sherry Birkin must have been somewhere around here as well. She would hate to see Jake escape her grasp, especially when she had so much planned for him. No, for his blood. _

_While she continued to take a stroll with some of her remaining soldiers, she turned her thoughts back to the BSAA agents she had infected earlier. Another small smirk crossed her face when she thought about how easy it had been to carry out her plans. Knowing that those men had become infected with the virus she created…no matter how many times it had worked, it was still pleasing to see all the time she put into her work pay off. _

_But thinking about the BSAA then brought her back to that girl who had addressed her so vehemently in City Hall: Audrey Fagan. She had looked so disappointed when she saw what was happening to the other BSAA agents, and had even called her out on it. Who was she? An old friend? Why couldn't she remember her? _

_It didn't matter now, though. All she knew was that for some reason, the thought of Miss Fagan made her angry. She didn't know why, but it did, and it made her hate Audrey for it. _Damn her, _she thought, clenching her fist, _Damn that girl.

_All around her, the skies grew lighter, making the moon and the night disappear to reveal the first rays of morning. The clouds turned a soft pink and orange, and the winds died down, only leaving a slight breeze that ruffled her red scarf. Fortunately, the snow had stopped as well. Even more fortunate was the perfect timing she had: she finally made it to the edge of the cave as Jake and Sherry also emerged outside. All previous thoughts of Audrey and the BSAA disappeared from her mind as she realized there were more important matters to attend to. _

_With a silent wave of her hand, she commanded the J'avo accompanying her to move forward, opening fire on the two of them. She just hung back, watching Jake use his Nine-oh-Nine handgun to take out the soldiers. Against all odds, she had to admit that his skills impressed her. _This is just too easy, _she thought, taking note of the Ustanak barreling towards the exit of the cave. He looked much more worn down, as if Jake and Sherry had used a giant drill in order to try to kill him, but he still displayed his strength as he used his mechanical arm to knock Sherry unconscious. She sailed in the air for a few seconds before hitting the ground, remaining immobile as the BOW managed to restrain Jake by stepping on him. _

"_Come on, Super Girl," the mercenary muttered, struggling against the Ustanak's foot as Ada approached him. He looked up through half-closed eyes, seemingly remembering how she had been the one to give out that so-called energy booster in the first place. _

"_You know," he whispered, "Those shots of yours pack one hell of a punch, lady." He groaned and continued to lie on the ground, unable to get up because of the Ustanak's foot on his back. _

_Ada just smiled, moving forward to kneel in front of him. "So," she said, "You're Wesker Junior." _

"_Wesker?" Jake echoed, looking up in confusion, "You lost me." _

Here goes nothing, _Ada thought. "Albert Wesker was a colossal imbecile," she explained, "A fool who tried to destroy the world." She gave the mercenary a meaningful look. _

"_He was also your father." _

_With that, Jake glanced up, his face betraying his shock and confusion. How did this woman know this information? What was she talking about? "What?" he whispered in horror. _

"_Which makes you heir to a very special blood type," she finished, getting up and signaling for her army to follow. _

_On the ground, Jake was still reeling from this piece of information. He had spent his whole life not knowing anything about his father, and now this woman expected him to believe that his old man was some psycho named Albert Wesker? _

_Before he could ponder this revelation any longer, he watched as everything faded to black around him, and the last thing he saw was the Ustanak bringing his foot down to his face. _

* * *

Although the curtain was closed, I could still feel some rays of sunshine hit my face as I woke up to a low sunrise. I yawned and sat up in bed, stretching my arms over my head. It wasn't the best sleep I had gotten, but I was thankful for the rest. Today was going to be a tough day.

Alexis was still sleeping, and I tiptoed over to the bathroom so that I wouldn't wake her. After splashing some water on my face and using the provided supplies to brush my teeth, I pulled my hair into a braid and left the room, going back downstairs to where we had parted with Piers the previous night. To my surprise, he was still there, though he was now sleeping on the couch. A blanket covered everything except his head, and I turned to face the door just as I heard someone enter the room.

"I found him sleeping on that couch last night," a woman who looked like the hotel manager explained to me, "He must have been too tired to go back to his own room, so I gave him a blanket that would keep him warm."

I nodded in understanding. "Thank you," I thanked her, "That was very generous of you."

She smiled warmly. "BSAA, huh?" she asked, "You have business here?"

Before I could say anything, Piers suddenly opened his eyes as he sat up on the couch, rubbing some sleep out of his eyes as he moved the blanket to the side.

"I have to go," the hotel manager whispered to me, "Good luck on whatever your mission is." She hurried out of the room, and Piers let go of his phone, which he must have fallen asleep with.

As soon as he realized I was here, he grabbed his cell phone again. "So…" I said tentatively, "What's going on?"

"I called the European branch," he answered, "And they're on their way now. I told them about you and your sister, and they also said an agent from the North American branch is on her way as well and would like to take over your case while helping with ours."

I just remained silent at first. This was news to me. "Really?" I asked, "Who?"

I was prepared for any and all names, but not the one Piers eventually told me, and I had to wonder if this was really happening as he revealed this little bit of information.

"Jill Valentine."


	6. Retribution

Okay! I've finally gotten the next chapter up! Thanks again to everyone who's been reading, reviewing, favoriting, and alerting this story! I've been having a lot of fun with it so far! :)

Oh, and for everyone waiting to get _Resident Evil 6_ on the PC, it's supposed to be coming out around March 22nd, so if you didn't know that already, here it is.

**DISCLAIMER: **Only my OCs, plot ideas, and slight changes from the original game are mine. Everything else belongs to Capcom.

* * *

The whirring of helicopter blades was the first sound that greeted us as we stepped out of the taxi upon arriving at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport. I threw my arm up over my eyes to block out the snow on the side of the road, which looked brighter due to the clear blue skies and the strong sun.

Next to me, Alexis blinked and tried to wake herself up, tying her hair up into a ponytail. "So," she said to me, "Jill Valentine's here?"

"That's what Piers said," I answered, "She must have found out we were here with Chris."

When Piers had initially told me Jill would be traveling to Europe to meet up with us, I had been all but anxious about what might happen. Wesker had held both Jill and Alexis hostage after the incident at the Spencer Estate, and as far as I knew, she was the only one who never held my crimes against me.

Then again, she was very close with Chris, and it _had_ been three years since we left Kijuju. Her opinion of us could have changed over time.

"Maybe this is a good sign," Alexis whispered to me as if she had been reading my mind, "Jill was very nice to me when we were stuck with Wesker, and she seemed to be okay with you, too. I don't think she'll give us a hard time over all this."

"I hope not," I whispered back, though I couldn't help but feel a streak of optimism as well. Jill must have had something in mind for us already if she was eager for Piers to hand us over to her. We'd have to wait and find out.

The helicopter with the BSAA logo on the side quickly landed on the empty runway next to us, and the occupants inside it waited for the blades to stop rotating before opening the doors. A young woman wearing a uniform with the European branch's logo on her sleeve stepped out first, greeting Piers as we followed close behind him.

"Hello, Captain Nivans," she greeted, her voice revealing a slight English accent.

Piers shook hands with her, but looked away for a brief second after being addressed by his new title. "Captain Pearson," he replied, "Thanks for helping us out with this."

"I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your team," Pearson apologized in a sympathetic tone, "But we'll do everything we can to make sure we help you bring Captain Redfield back." She offered Piers a reassuring smile before turning her gaze to us, and I could have sworn I saw her widen her eyes in surprise.

"Wait a minute," she spoke up, "Haven't I seen you before?" She pointed at me, and I looked up in shock.

"Me?" I asked.

"Yes, you. I'm Isabella Pearson. We shared a room back when I was still in the North American branch. I was one of the agents on the search and rescue mission for Jill Valentine, remember?"

I racked my brain, trying to see if I could recall any of this information. I had to admit that when Piers had mentioned the name Pearson last night, it had sounded familiar to me.

Then it occurred to me that she had indeed been the person I had shared a bunk bed with her, on the night I decided to join the BSAA.

"I remember you," I said, "So you got promoted and transferred to the European branch, huh? Congratulations!"

"Thank you," Pearson thanked me, "I've heard all about you, too. I didn't know you landed yourself in a heap of trouble."

"Don't remind me," I mumbled under my breath.

"Well, I'm sure Mr. Nivans has already told you this, but Jill Valentine of the North American branch is here to see you and your sister. She has also volunteered to help us search for Captain Redfield."

"Yes, he told us," Alexis spoke up in response, "So, where's Miss Valentine?"

"Right here!"

We both looked up as someone else climbed out of the helicopter, and we recognized her instantly. Like Chris and Piers, she wore the BSAA winter uniform with the North American logo on her sleeve and a cap on her head, where her blonde hair was pulled into a low ponytail. _Looks like the P30 side effects haven't worn off after all this time, _I thought, _But at least she appears to be doing better since that ordeal. _

"Jill!" we cried in unison.

"Thank you for bringing them here, Piers," Jill Valentine said, nodding at both of us as she shook our hands, "It's been a long time since I saw them in Africa."

_Deep breaths, Audrey, _I told myself, _You can do this. Jill's not here to bite your head off, and Alexis had a good friendship with her in those years of captivity. Maybe this won't be so bad after all._

"It's good to see you again, Jill," Alexis replied, "How have you been?"

"I've been good," Jill answered, offering a small smile, which I tentatively returned, "I'm still a field agent, but I've also been promoted to a supervisor for the BSAA."

"Wow," I piped up, my voice cracking a little bit, "Congratulations."

"Thank you, Audrey," she thanked me, "And by the way, you have nothing to be nervous about. I'm just going to ask you a few questions, and then I'm going to assist Piers in trying to find Chris. Right, Piers?"

"Exactly," Piers quipped, "Thanks again for helping out with this, Miss Valentine."

"It's no problem. Really." Jill then glanced at us and gestured towards the airport.

"Come on. Let's go." She walked away with Alexis in tow, and I took another deep breath and followed them. _Just a few questions, _I thought, _Probably concerning nothing she hasn't already heard about. This could be my chance to make things right once and for all. _

"Audrey!"

I turned just as Piers slowed down his pace in order to catch up with me.

"Don't give her a hard time," he warned me, "Okay?"

I just smiled wryly, folding my hands as I regarded the Man Who Never Misses a Target. I wasn't sure if Alexis and I would ever see him again, but just in case we wouldn't…

"You don't have to worry about us anymore," I assured him, "Everything's under control now. Good luck on your mission to find Captain Redfield."

* * *

"All right, let's get started," Jill announced once we found a small conference room in the airport. She took a seat across from us as we sat down next to each other, and she reached into her bag to pull out a thick folder. She set it on the table separating us from her, and when I leaned forward in my seat, I saw it was a file about us. It was a rather thick file, too, and I knew that it contained information about everything we'd done here.

"Okay, here's how it's going to work," Jill began, "I know you told me and Chris the basics of your involvement with all this after we left Africa, but you were never officially questioned for anything that you did. I'm going to ask you a few questions about everything you've been involved in, so you'll have to repeat your story in order to give me an overall picture. I know you were with me in Africa for three years, Alexis, so this is mostly for your sister."

I took a deep breath to steel myself. I had faced all sorts of monsters and BOWs in the past. One little interrogation wouldn't hurt. As much as I was unsure of what would happen from here, I was secretly glad it was Jill handling our situation instead of Piers. From what I remembered, she was much more levelheaded than the sniper.

"Before we begin," she said, "What have you two been doing for the last three years?"

"We were home with our family," Alexis explained, "We had to get ourselves together after what happened before."

Jill didn't react to my sister's answer, only glancing at the file again. "So, Audrey," she sighed, "It says here that you first came in contact with Albert Wesker in September of 2004. Is that correct?"

"Yes," I answered almost immediately, "It is."

"How did you meet him?"

I proceeded to rehash the story of Krauser rescuing me from Saddler's island and bringing me back to Wesker, where I had received the virus that would eventually become the bane of my existence. Although it had helped to heal me, it had also been specially modified to manipulate me. Even now, I could still feel it in my system as I spoke.

"I see," Jill said, "And from there, you helped Jack Krauser kidnap President Graham's daughter in order to infiltrate Los Illuminados?"

I cringed at that question. "I did," I admitted, and Alexis just glanced at me and nodded encouragingly.

_Did I really do all those things? _I thought with a shudder. God. How could I have been so _naïve _back then?

"Were you involved in any of the events that took place in Spain?" Jill asked Alexis, facing her briefly, "Did you previously know Wesker as well?"

"No," my sister replied, shaking her head, "On both accounts."

"And what made you change your mind about Wesker during the incident in the Kennedy report, Audrey?"

"Leon Scott Kennedy himself," I answered, folding my hands as I thought about one of the first good people I had met in this universe.

"Well, he was a _helping _factor," I amended, "Even before running into him, I was already starting to have doubts about Umbrella. He just confirmed my feelings when he finally told me the truth about everything."

Jill nodded, her face betraying nothing as she looked down at the file again. It was hard to tell how well I was doing, but I would still maintain an optimistic attitude.

"It's good that you mentioned that, because it brings me to my next question," Jill quipped, "The night after your mission in Spain was the night you faked your death. Am I right?"

A wry smile formed on my face, and I glanced at Alexis again. That cliff diving moment had certainly made it look like I was dead to everyone. The coldness, the empty feeling in my body before waking up in the real world again…for a split second, it felt like I had actually died, which scared me. The excruciating pain I had experienced before that was something I didn't want to relive if I could help it.

"You could say that," I retorted, "I was trying to get away from Wesker, and then a few years later…"

"He took both me and Alexis hostage," Jill finished, nodding at us, "And you created a new identity and joined the BSAA."

"Exactly," Alexis piped up for the first time since this interrogation had started, "And Wesker found her there."

"I was trying to run away from my past," I explained, "I spent those first three years in the BSAA looking for Alexis, and I was hoping to start over with a clean slate in the process. Then like my sister said, Wesker tracked me down, which brought me to Africa. I felt terrible for lying to Chris the way I did, and I guess I should have known everything was going to backfire one day. That was my mistake, and I'm taking full responsibility for it."

Jill frowned, almost in sympathy, before reading through the file again. "And you did all that for your sister," she stated, "You risked everything to protect her. There's no doubt that your actions were questionable, but you had good intentions behind them. And I know that if anything ever happened to Claire, Chris would do the same for her."

I looked down at my hands, taking in her words. I remembered Chris mentioning how he hadn't wanted to discharge me from the BSAA, but I still understood why he did it.

"I guess that's why he was so nice to us when we ran into him in Edonia," Alexis deduced, "We were expecting him to be so different, but he really surprised us. You too, actually."

Jill gave us a small smile. "Well, neither one of us forgot how you seemed to redeem yourselves and decided to help us take care of Wesker in Africa."

_Of course! _I thought, snapping my fingers. I supposed Chris's way of acknowledging the fact that we helped in taking down Wesker was to treat us the way he did in Edonia.

"That's also why he gave you a neutral discharge from the BSAA, Audrey," Jill continued.

"I _had _been wondering why it wasn't dishonorable," I replied, "After everything I had done to him."

Jill nodded, pushed the file aside, and folded her hands on the desk. "Audrey, Alexis," she said, "There's another reason why I wanted to be the one to take over your case. The standard punishment for what you did is serving jail time. Depending on how serious it is, you could be locked away for life."

Alexis and I shared a glance, my heart beating a little bit faster. "So we _are _going to jail?" Alexis asked. I was prepared to serve time, but it was still surreal just hearing what Chris's longtime partner was saying.

To my surprise, however, Jill shook her head. "No," she quipped.

"_No_?" both me and my sister gasped at the same time.

"No," Jill repeated, "I don't think sitting in a jail cell is right for this situation. I have a better idea." She paused to smile again at our incredulous expressions.

"Instead, I believe we'll let the punishment fit the crime."

* * *

_**Three months later-West Coast of Africa…**_

All I could hear around me was the rumbling of water in my ears as I dove in for the last time, kicking my feet behind me as I descended into the depths of the ocean. The water was at the perfect temperature, but now wasn't the time to relish that fact. I was on a mission.

Next to me, Alexis made a circle with her thumb and forefinger, extending her three remaining fingers to let me know she was okay before giving me the thumbs down sign. I nodded and repeated the hand signals as my sister began swimming downwards, her oxygen tank gleaming in the rays of sunlight shimmering in the water. I had had some diving training in my days with the BSAA, but never thought I would actually utilize it until now.

My swim fins felt awkward on my feet, but I learned to deal with it as I took deep breaths through my face mask. I took out a flashlight and pointed it all around me, catching sight of a few other divers around me. I narrowed my eyes and focused on the patch of blue in front of me, moving the flashlight until I spotted something black on the ground. _Jackpot, _I thought, propelling myself towards it. They were small, familiar looking tentacles, but they were what I was looking for, and satisfied, I took out a vacuum and used it to collect the substance. Once I was finished with that, I swam over to Alexis, tapped her on the shoulder, and gave her the thumbs up sign. After she gave it to me as well, I carefully made my way back to the surface, being sure not to move too fast out of fear of rupturing my lungs. Soon enough, I gently resurfaced, water dripping down my face as I removed my mask. I climbed back onto the boat, sat down, and removed my swim fins and oxygen tank, drying off my hair and my black-and-green wetsuit in the process.

"Did you find anything?"

I looked up as Jill emerged from somewhere inside the boat, and I nodded as I handed the container over to her.

"There was a trace of Uroboros in that location," I reported, "Just like you said."

"Good job," Jill complimented, taking the container from me, "We'll bring this back to the lab for analysis. Has Alexis found anything yet?"

Almost as if on cue, Alexis burst out of the water as well, hoisting herself up on the deck of the boat. "Found a Plagas sample not too far from where Audrey was," she explained, "But everything else looks clean for the most part."

"Good," Jill said, nodding in approval, "The ocean cleanup is going very nicely. Soon, it'll be time to head over to Kijuju. Why don't you two go get changed and meet me on the dock?"

"Sure thing," I replied, "Any word on Chris, by the way?"

"Representatives from the West African Branch should be meeting us in Kijuju, and hopefully, we'll find out then. Terrasave will also be there to provide aid to the residents."

Alexis and I just sighed before heading into a side cabin to take off the wetsuits and change into something more land-friendly. The whole time I continued to dry off, I thought about the last three months and how they hadn't been a walk in the park. Nothing in this world was, but it seemed even worse than usual now.

Even as my sister and I had eventually come to accept that working on global cleansing detail was to be our punishment for aiding bioterrorists, we never thought we would find ourselves in Kijuju again. In the past few months, we had traveled to various locations around the world, with this being our first stop in Africa after so long. Last time we were here, everything was a mess, and I was surprised most of the town was still standing. The BSAA must have completely cleaned out the virus before working on rebuilding everything, which brought us to the autonomous zone now. I hoped Kijuju would be able to get itself back on its feet, even after four years.

Once Alexis and I finished changing, we climbed out of the boat and went to meet Jill on the dock, but by the time we arrived there, we spotted another familiar face as Chris's longtime partner continued to speak to her.

"Sheva?" I gasped.

Sure enough, it was Sheva Alomar herself, whose appearance hadn't changed all that much from the last time I saw her. She was just taking out a communicator when she glanced over in my direction.

"Audrey Fagan!" she cried, waving us over, "It's been a long time!"

"That it has," I agreed, approaching her to shake her hand while Alexis did the same, "How have you been?"

"All right," Sheva answered, "Josh and I have been leading the cleanup of Kijuju, and Jill tells me you're helping out as well."

"That's right," Alexis said, and Sheva just fixed us with a knowing stare. Like Chris, she had also been furious with me because of what I had done the last time we were here, though she was also more willing to listen to my side of the story. Granted, this reunion wasn't exactly a happy one, but that was to be expected.

"We've turned over a new leaf," my sister continued, "Or we're in the middle of doing that, anyway."

"My days of lying and hiding things from everyone are over," I added, "And helping Jill and the rest of you with this cleanup is my official apology for what happened before." Simply saying _sorry _back in the day hadn't been enough, I realized. If I really wanted to regain everyone's trust, I would have to work for it.

Sheva nodded, narrowing her eyes at me. "Well, it's good to see that you're taking some responsibility now," she said. She then glanced down at her communicator, where she began punching a few buttons on it.

"I was also telling Jill that I've been in contact with Piers Nivans for the last three months," she continued, "I was very sad to hear about Chris's disappearance, and I told Piers that if he needed the West African Branch's help, we'd be there for him. We decided to send agents to a few nearby regions, just in case he somehow ended up here."

I sighed sadly. Aside from helping to rebuild Kijuju, that was the other reason Jill, Alexis, and I were in Africa once more. After three whole months of searching, we _still _hadn't found Chris, despite the fact that both the North American _and _European branches had basically done a sweep across the entire European continent. Though we hadn't seen Piers in person since the Edonia incident, Jill still kept in touch with him as the two of them updated each other on their respective ends of the situation.

"And speaking of Piers…" Sheva whispered to herself, for the sniper's face suddenly appeared on her communicator in the same frown he always wore.

"How's it going in Europe?" Sheva asked him, and Alexis and I peered over her shoulder.

"_We arrived in Rome last night,_" Piers reported, "_And we're working with the Italian police to see if Captain Redfield's possibly here._"

"The West African branch has deployed agents here as well," Sheva replied, "If you want, Jill and I can get in touch with the East African branch, too."

"_Go ahead and call them. We'll need all the help we can get. Maybe he somehow slipped out of Europe undetected._" He sighed and looked away.

"_Damn it, Captain,_" he whispered under his breath, "_Why did you run off like this?_"

"It'll be all right, Piers," Jill assured him, "We'll find him. He went through a lot to find me when I went missing, and I'm willing to do the same for him."

Piers took a deep breath, nodded, and then turned his attention to me and my sister.

"_So, Audrey,_" he began, "_I hear you and Alexis have been helping the BSAA in Africa?_"

"Yep," I answered in an unintentionally strained voice, "We're part of the cleanup crew."

Piers just fixed his gaze on me. "_I see,_" he said, "_And everything's been under control?_"

To an outsider, this question would have looked like Piers was only asking about the cleanup process, but I knew what he really meant, in addition to that.

"Yes," I assured him, "Everything's been under control. I told you it would be."

"_I was just making sure,_" Piers retorted, "_I'm only going by what the Captain told me._"

"I know you are. But like I said in Serbia all those months ago, everything's okay now, and I mean it."

"Her behavior's been fine since I assigned her and her sister this job," Jill spoke up, "Anyway, we're about to move onto more rebuilding. If we hear anything about Chris, we'll call you."

Piers just shifted his gaze back and forth between me, Alexis, and Jill, and after what felt like forever, he nodded slowly. "_And vice versa if we hear anything over here,_" he replied, "_Good luck._"

* * *

_**A little while later… **_

"All right," Sheva announced, grabbing a bucket of paint and a few brushes, "Let's get to work."

_Oh, boy, _I thought, taking a brush and surveying the scenario in front of us. We were standing outside a school near the Shanty Town Chris, Sheva, and I had fought a Chainsaw Majini in the last time we were here. According to Josh Stone, who had joined us, the school had been built a few months ago, but needed a paint job, so that was where we were now.

I dipped my paintbrush into the bucket of white paint and began to place the first coat on the siding outside. It wouldn't take too long to dry; the sun was out and temperatures were blazing, though the shade from the roof above us helped as well. I looked down at my arms and took note of just how tan Alexis and I had gotten over the past three months, and next to me, I could see Jill was getting a bit of a tan as well. She and my sister stood next to me while Sheva and Josh walked around to the other side of the building, taking some extra paint with them.

I had to admit it was a little weird seeing all my old allies from the Kijuju mission, but at the same time, kind of nice to be surrounded by people that didn't glance at me like I was a bomb that was about to explode. Not that they would have been wrong for doing so, but I still didn't like it all the same.

"So, Jill," Alexis piped up, "You said Terrasave is here, too?"

"That's right," Jill answered, "Chris's sister, Claire, is helping us. She's also part of the search and rescue mission for him."

Right after she announced that, we heard footsteps in the dirt as another voice spoke up. "Sorry I'm late," it said, "I was just talking with a few of the supervisors at the West African Headquarters. They said you three contacted the East African branch about Chris."

We looked up as another woman entered the scene, and she quickly tied up her dark red hair before moving forward to grab a paint brush. I had only seen her once before, but her facial features instantly gave her away as Chris's sister.

"Don't worry about it," Jill assured her, "We just got started. And they're going to be sending agents out to see what they can find."

Claire took a deep breath, offered Chris's partner a smile, and then grabbed a paintbrush so that she could help us with this. She and I went to get more paint at the same time, and as soon as we locked eyes, she frowned in recognition.

"You look familiar," she said, "Have we met before?"

I straightened up again and cleared my throat. "We have," I told her, "The last time we were here with the BSAA after we killed Wesker. You were with Leon Kennedy." I put my brush down and held my hand out to shake hers.

"I'm Audrey Fagan, and this is my sister, Alexis."

"Right," Claire cried, returning the gesture, "You were with my brother on his missions here and in Edonia."

I felt myself tense up a little bit, but I forced myself to relax as I took a deep breath. "Yes, I was," I confirmed, "But I've turned over a new leaf since Africa."

"We _both _have," Alexis added, appearing next to me to get more paint, "We're not here to hurt anyone anymore."

"I hope not," Claire said, "Jill says you're all right, and I trust her, but you'll have to prove it yourselves." She picked up my paintbrush again, handed it to me, and then returned to working on the paintjob in front of us. _Don't take it personally, _I told myself, _She's Chris's sister. It's only natural that she'd act this way towards us. _

For the next few hours, we continued to work side by side in silence, only breaking it to talk about the current situation at hand. Where could Chris have gone? Why had he run away from the hospital like that? Why had Ada murdered all those men back in Edonia?

I shook my head. She was another person the BSAA was currently trying to track down, but if I knew Ada like I thought I did, she would never let herself be caught. Nobody had asked me about her again since that incident, but that didn't stop them from trying to find her, and it also didn't stop me from still thinking that she hadn't been acting like herself that day.

"You know who I was just thinking about?" Alexis suddenly asked, "Jake Muller and Sherry Birkin. Has the BSAA managed to find out anything about them, too?"

"Not that I've heard," Claire answered, "I've been trying to get any information I can about Sherry. She's a friend of mine. Always has been since Raccoon City."

I glanced over at the younger Redfield as she said this. I couldn't imagine what she was going through right now, dealing with a missing friend _and _a missing brother on top of that. Despite the fact that I couldn't stomach Jake, I was worried about him, Sherry, and the Echo pilots they had left with. The three month silence only led us all to assume the worst, but if Chris and I could find Jill and Alexis after three years, then we would be optimistic about this, too.

"We met her briefly in Edonia," I said, "She seemed really nice. Always looking out for everyone around her." _Unlike the mercenary she was traveling with, _I added silently to myself.

Even though she still had reservations towards us, Claire had the hint of a smile on her face when I mentioned Sherry. "Sounds just like her," she replied, "Even after everything she's been through, she can still see the good in everyone."

"She's still reporting to Simmons, right?" Jill spoke up from next to Alexis as she, Sheva, and Josh finished their side of the school and moved to join us.

Chris's younger sister just frowned for some reason as she responded, "Yeah, she is. I've warned her about him in the past, but my letters always got lost in the mail."

"Who's Simmons?" Alexis asked.

"Derek Simmons," Claire explained, "National Security Advisor."

"What's so bad about him?" I questioned.

We stepped back from the wall as we finally finished painting it and then moved on to the next section as Claire quipped, "I don't know. Just…a feeling I get sometimes. A strange vibe I've gotten from him the few times I met him."

"I wouldn't worry about it too much," Jill assured her, "Sherry can take care of herself, and hopefully, wherever she is, she's all right."

"If you want, we can send some teams from the West and East African branches to try and find her, too," Sheva and Josh suggested.

While the four of them continued to banter about Sherry's, Jake's, and Chris's possible locations, Alexis and I just thought about what Claire had said about Derek Simmons. From what we knew about Chris's sister, she seemed to be a woman who got along with almost everyone, so why did she all of a sudden have an issue with _Simmons_? Now, I was very interested in meeting him just to see what kind of person he was.

Then again, who was I to judge who was untrustworthy? _I guess we'll just have to wait and see, _I thought, returning to the paintjob in front of us.

"So how long are you three going to be in Africa?" Claire asked us.

"Until our part of the cleanup is finished," Jill answered, "Though we're making good progress now. After we're done, we're going back to Tall Oaks. We've rented an apartment there, and we'll see what we can do from there."

Claire seemed to consider what Jill had just told her. "Well, don't forget about President Benford's lecture in a few months," she reminded her, "Leon's hinted that it's going to be a pretty big event, so make sure you buy your tickets if you're interested."

* * *

_**Three months later-Tall Oaks, United States… **_

"Mail call! Mail call!"

I tore my gaze away from the computer, pausing in the assignment I was working on for the BSAA as Alexis traipsed back into the living room, carrying a wad of envelopes in her hands.

"Anything interesting?" I asked, getting up from the chair I was sitting in as I went to join her on the other side of the room. We didn't get much mail except for rent and junk, so when my sister was excited about this, I knew it had to be something different.

"Our tickets are here," Alexis announced, opening the envelope at the top. I peered at the return address, which was from the nearby Ivy University. I remembered Claire mentioning that President Adam Benford would be traveling here to hold some sort of Truth Seminar, and having nothing better to do on our short break from the global cleanup, we decided to purchase tickets and go. It was the talk of the town, open to both the university students and the public, and I felt a shiver of anticipation go down my spine every time I thought about it.

"I thought these would never get here," I commented, glancing at the calendar, which put today's date at June 28th, "Do you think Jill will be back in time to go with us?"

"I doubt it," Alexis answered, "She's still away on business with Claire and I don't think they'll be back in time. Either way, you and I can still go and see what it's all about."

"Just as long as we get this assignment done first."

"Well, she trusts us enough now to know that we're not going to run off and do anything stupid. I think we can relax as far as that goes."

Suddenly, the phone rang, and I went back to working on the computer while Alexis hurried to answer it. "Hello?" she greeted. She paused as she listened to the person on the other end of the line, and she widened her eyes in shock as she gripped the phone.

"Oh, _Piers, _hi!" she gasped, making me nearly spill the soda I was drinking all over the keyboard. _Piers? _I thought incredulously, _Piers Nivans is calling us?_

"Sorry," my sister apologized into the phone, "It's just that we weren't expecting to hear from you, given everything that's happened. So, what's going on?" Silence followed, and Alexis nodded and gripped the phone even tighter, looking more and more elated by the minute.

"You do?" she asked, "That's great!" She moved the receiver away from her mouth, covered it, and turned to me.

"The BSAA has a lead on Chris!"

"Get out of here!" I gasped, "Where?"

Alexis held the phone up to her ear once again and repeated my question into the speaker. If I didn't think she looked surprised before, she appeared to be floored now.

"_Montenegro_?" she inquired, "Wow. After all that searching and he might never have even left Eastern Europe…" She trailed off at whatever Piers was saying next.

"She's right here," she quipped, glancing at me, "Hold on just a minute."

_Shit, _I thought, _Where's all this going?_

"Piers wants to talk to you," she announced, holding the phone out to me, "I can leave the room if you want."

"No, that's okay," I assured her, "I've got it." I accepted the phone from her, took a deep breath, and began speaking into it, wondering why the sniper wanted to talk to me even though he didn't like me.

"Hi, Piers," I said, "So, I hear you guys are hot on Chris's trail?"

"_We are,_" Piers confirmed, "_We got a tip off from a bartender in Montenegro, and tomorrow, we're going to question her about him. Which brings me to you and why I wanted to talk to you._" He paused now, and I waited with bated breath for him to continue.

"_Jill says you've been very helpful for the last six months with the global cleanup, especially in Africa, but if you really want a chance to redeem yourself, here it is._"

My heart pounded as it dawned on me what Piers was hinting at, and I glanced over at Alexis, who was watching me intently. "You want me to join you guys in Europe," I realized.

"_That's the idea._"

I shook my head, feeling slightly dizzy as I took a seat on the couch. "But what about you?" I asked, "I mean, after everything in Edonia…"

"_I still think you owe Captain Redfield something for all the stress you put him through in Africa. He's helped you out even when he didn't have to. Now it's your turn._" I didn't respond right away as I still tried to process everything Piers was asking of me. I supposed Jill had a hand in convincing him to give me a second chance, and I made a mental note to thank her for it later. If Alexis and I couldn't count on anyone else in this world, at least we could count on Jill Valentine.

"You should go," Alexis spoke up encouragingly, patting my shoulder, "I think this would be a great opportunity for you. You've been saying how you don't want people to see you as a criminal anymore, right?"

It wasn't like I was constantly obsessing over what other people thought of me, but in this instance, I knew she was right. Being labeled as a bioterrorist wasn't something I wanted to carry around with me for the rest of my life, and even if I did small things, like helping with the global cleanup or tracking down Chris, those would be my ticket to redemption.

"What about you, though?" I asked.

"I'll be fine," she assured me, "But you need to do this, Audrey. There might not be another chance after this."

_And the fact that Piers Nivans, out of all people, is offering this chance, could be an indicator that this is something I should take part in, _I thought, _And he seems to be a man of his word._

And with that, I exhaled and held the phone up to my ear again. "All right, I'll do it," I decided.

"_I figured you'd say that,_" Piers replied, "_So, how quickly can you get to Montenegro?_"

* * *

"Now remember," Alexis reminded me as soon as I finished checking in at the airport, "Call me as soon as you get there!"

I grabbed my carry-on bag and took a deep breath as I faced my sister. "Don't worry about me," I said with a smile, "I'll be okay."

"I know, but you're my little sister and I'm gonna keep after you no matter what."

I chuckled quietly, stopping outside the metal detectors to hug her goodbye. "Just pretend it's the day I first went away to college," I told her to put her at ease.

Alexis grinned and returned the hug. "You're gonna do great," she replied, repeating the very same words she had uttered to me when I moved into my dorm, "I can feel it. Tell Chris I said hello and that I'm glad he's okay."

"I'll pass on the message. I love you."

"I love you, too. Be safe."

I hugged her even tighter, waved at her, and then finally passed through security, turning around to glance at her one last time before she turned and disappeared around the corner.


	7. Kiss of Death

All right, here we go! I've been waiting to put this chapter up since I started the story! It's a bit on the long side, and this is now probably the longest chapter I've ever written on fanfiction! A HUGE thank you to everyone who's been reading, reviewing, favoriting, and alerting this story! :D

**DISCLAIMER: **Only my OCs, plot ideas, and slight changes to the original game are mine. Everything else belongs to Capcom.

**Bold**-?

* * *

Although I had traveled on my own in this world before, this was the first time I was doing so voluntarily. I didn't know why Piers didn't extend this same invitation to Alexis, but I could worry about that later. _Thank God for last minute plane tickets, _I thought to myself once I took my seat on the plane and settled in for the eight hour flight. The whole time I was airborne, I turned my attention to Chris and pondered over what we would find out about him, and most of all, what part I was going to play in order to redeem myself once and for all.

Somewhere in the middle of the flight, I closed my eyes to try and sleep, though I found I had gone back to thinking about Mister Man Who Never Misses a Target. "_Piers may seem like a grouch now, but he's actually really nice once you get to know him,_" Finn had told me and Alexis back in Edonia, and I felt my heart sink at the thought of him. Even six months later, his and the others' deaths were still fresh in all our minds, and I would never forget that other than Chris and Sherry, he was one of the only ones to show me and my sister any kindness.

I could do this. I could redeem myself _and _tolerate Piers Nivans for however long I was going to be with the BSAA. _Do it for Finn,_ I told myself, _He would have wanted you to. _

Since I had ended up leaving around six in the morning the next day, I realized I would end up in Montenegro by at least the early afternoon. By the time I arrived at Podgorica Airport eight hours later, most of the tension I had felt on the plane disappeared, even more so when I passed through customs and went to reclaim my baggage. I was just entering the waiting area when I spotted some very familiar faces in front of me.

"Audrey! Over here!"

_Here goes nothing, _I thought as I made my way over to where Piers Nivans and the BSAA were now standing.

Piers hadn't changed at all over the last six months, except he was now dressed in jeans, a white T-shirt, and a lighter, more casual BSAA jacket not unlike the one I had worn in Edonia.

"I got here as soon as I could," I told him, "Have you found anything else about Chris?"

"Not since I called you," Piers answered, "Ready to go?"

I nodded, hoisted my back pack over my shoulder, and followed the others out of the airport. Along the way, three of them slowed down to introduce themselves to me.

"Hi, I'm Jeff," one of them said, shaking my hand, "And this is Keaton and Reid." He pointed at the other two soldiers accompanying him.

"Nice to meet all of you," I responded, finally emerging into the afternoon daylight, "I'm Audrey."

"Welcome to the team, Audrey!" Reid quipped next, grinning, "Captain Nivans says you're here to help us find Chris."

I nodded, smiling as well. "I want to find him just as much as you all do," I told him, "And I've heard your team is like a family."

"It is," Keaton piped up, "The Captain never treats us like subordinates. He's been doing a great job of leading the team while Chris was missing."

_Wonder where he got that from, _I thought as I stole a glance at Piers, who was walking slightly ahead of us.

"Here we go," Jeff announced, stopping in front of a car parked across from the entrance to the airport, "It's about a two hour drive from here to Berane. That's where we're staying for the time being."

After placing my bags in the trunk, I climbed into one of the back seats while Jeff and Reid occupied the ones in the front. Keaton also got settled in the back, which only left…

"All right," Piers announced, taking his place in the middle seat right next to me, "Let's go."

Great. A two hour drive from here to Berane with _Piers Nivans _sitting next to me? This was bound to be awkward.

I remembered the last time I had survived another uncomfortable car ride: a seven hour trip to Massachusetts with Krauser. If I could make it through _that _without going insane, then this should be a walk in the park.

For now, I resorted to looking out the window as we pulled away from Podgorica Airport. The view of the city was pleasant, and the sun was strong against the blue sky. About half an hour into the trip, I decided to take that time to check in with Alexis at home, where it had to be morning now, but before I could punch in the number to our apartment, I heard Piers clear his throat next to me.

"So the bar we're going to is on the outskirts of Berane," he explained to me.

"I guess Chris will be there, then," I said, "How is it that we combed through all of Europe for the last six months and didn't realize he was still here? I mean, he's been playing hot potato with all these Eastern European countries!"

"He hid himself well. I guess he didn't want to be found. You know how that is."

I tore my gaze away from the window to face the sniper, feeling a little resentful at that comment. "What's _that _supposed to mean?" I asked.

Piers shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm just saying," he replied, "But I'm not gonna give you hell over what you did. That's not why I asked you to come back."

I had to laugh a little bit. _More like he's not gonna give me anymore hell over it, _I thought. "Well, I appreciate the thoughtfulness," I quipped, "But thanks for even deciding to give me a second chance in the first place."

Piers didn't say anything in response at first, only looking away from me briefly, in which I used that time to make a quick call home. Eventually, he faced me again and opened his mouth to say something else as I hung up.

"I do have one question, though. When you were working for Wesker…you never stopped to think that any of what you were doing was wrong? Nothing ever made you suspicious of him before the incident in Spain?"

I looked up from my phone and shrugged. "I had my moments where I thought things weren't right," I admitted, "But I couldn't do anything about it at the time. Besides, it wasn't like Wesker would have let me quit anyway. I mean, I had to fake my death to cut all ties with him!" I sighed and leaned my head against the window, glancing at the road outside. I could feel Piers' gaze on me, but I paid no attention to it.

"Anyway," I continued, "You know all this stuff about me, but I don't know anything about you. You already know why I joined the BSAA. Why did you?"

This time, Piers was the one to look away, adjusting his seatbelt as we finally made it to the E65 Expressway and began driving a little faster towards Berane. "I have a big military history in my family," he explained, "Going all the way back to my great grandfather. Growing up, I always wanted to be like my dad. My family was so proud when I graduated from military school and joined the Special Forces as a sniper, and I climbed up in ranks pretty quickly while I was there."

"Hence being Mr. Man Who Never Misses a Target?" I cut in, smirking to myself.

To my surprise, Piers chuckled quietly. "Yeah, that's where I got the nickname, and it ended up carrying over to the BSAA. Anyway, I was in the Special Forces for a few years, but after a while…I don't know…I felt like there wasn't a reason behind all my training anymore. Like I was just taking part in those drills just to be doing something. I guess you could say I was dissatisfied with the Special Forces. I was always hoping for something more, and I wasn't getting it there." He paused, took a deep breath, and then continued.

"Then one day, the BSAA stopped by. Chris Redfield was leading his Alpha Team at the time around the base, looking for new recruits. I had heard so much about him and everything he'd done in the past, and he was a legend even then. I liked how he didn't treat his soldiers like they were expendable, but like one big family. I didn't think I had a chance to serve under someone like him, until I found out my superiors had put in a good word for me. The Captain then asked me to do some target practice with my sniper rifle, so I did. After that, he asked me to join the BSAA." He looked up at me.

"I've been with them ever since."

"And do you feel like you've finally found your calling?" I asked.

Piers ran his hand through his hair and leaned back in his seat. "Preventing bioterrorism? Protecting innocent people? Yeah. I'd say I have. Having a cause worth fighting for, and _people _worth fighting for…it's what keeps me going in the battlefield."

Despite my ill feelings towards him, I had to admit that this story was shedding a whole new light on Piers Nivans. Underneath the rough attitude, he seemed to be just a soldier looking out for the lives of others, and like Finn said in Edonia, maybe he really _was _feeling pressured to be a good leader like Chris. Hell, he even reminded me of the older Redfield a little bit.

"I think everyone has his or her own cause in a way," I replied, "Some just happen to be not as good as others, but I think you have a very good reason for wanting to fight."

"Someone has to step up," Piers said, "And we want to help save the world from people like…well, like Albert Wesker. The fact that _you _do, too, is a whole different story."

I smiled wryly. "I know you don't think much of my actions, and I may not have a one hundred percent clean record like all of you, but I have a cause worth fighting for, too. You'll see one day."

"I hope so," Piers replied, "Once we get to Berane, we'll see."

Okay, so the car ride so far hadn't turned out to be too awkward. Maybe my time spent with the BSAA wouldn't be so bad after all. I didn't know what we would do after finding Chris, but as I leaned back in my seat, I began to have the suspicion that things were about to get very interesting from here.

* * *

_**Two hours later…**_

The bar was dimly lit, and I picked up the faint scent of cigarette smoke as Piers, the rest of the BSAA, and I entered the small room. There weren't that many people around right now, but that didn't matter; all we had to do was find the bartender that had called the BSAA.

Sure enough, we spotted a red-haired woman wiping down the bar itself, and as soon as we approached her, she stopped what she was doing and smiled.

"_Dobar dan,_" she greeted, "Good afternoon. How may I help you?"

Piers stepped forward and flashed his BSAA badge. "Hi, I'm Piers Nivans with the BSAA," he replied, "You're Alena, right? We spoke on the phone yesterday?"

"Ahh, yes, of course," Alena quipped, nodding in agreement, "Would you and your group like something to drink?"

"Nothing for me, thanks," the sniper declined, "How about the rest of you?"

"Sure, we'll have a couple of beers," Keaton answered at the same time I asked for a glass of water. Since almost nobody else was here and demanding service, Alena not only took her time giving the others bottles of beer, but she was also able to step away from the bar itself to sit down with us. After making sure the others were all right with their orders, she took a seat across from me and Piers, with the marksman taking out a picture of Chris again.

"So, Alena," he began, "You said you've seen his man before?" He showed her the photo, and the longer she stared at it, the more her unsubtle smirk grew on her face. She eventually began to chuckle as well.

"Ahh," she repeated from before, "I see you've come to fetch your stray dog?"

"_Stray dog_?" I echoed dubiously, stirring some ice in my glass of water, "Who calls him _that_?"

"Almost everyone who stops here for a drink," she explained, "He's been coming here for the last six months. We just didn't realize who he was until your men began scouting this area."

"I'd love to know how he managed to cross the border from Serbia without getting caught," I said, "The police in Belgrade were looking for him for a while."

Alena shrugged. "I don't know all that, but we still don't know his real name, so we just started calling him the 'stray dog'."

"Did he…mention anything to you about anything that might have happened six months ago?" Piers asked, "Something that made him run away?"

"_Ne_," Alena said, "No. He just said he didn't remember anything of who he was, not even his name."

Piers and I exchanged a glance. Dr. Jovanović had said there was a gash on the back of Chris's head from when the Napad had slammed him to the ground. _Shit, _I thought, _This is not good. Not good at all. _

"So what's he been doing here all this time?" I questioned.

Alena just shook her head. "I don't know what might have happened to him," she stated, "But all I know is that it's made him real moody, violent, depressed, and gruff-looking now. He's always so rude to us when he stops by for his daily fix, but I suppose that's because he's almost never sober. He comes in every night, drinks himself into a stupor no matter how much we try to stop him, and then doesn't even pay us right. He's the worst customer we've got here, which is surprising since he makes a lot of money being a bodyguard at this _diskoteka _in Berane. Nobody messes with him over there. I've heard he has been staying in a hotel outside the city, and that he's also been using the money to pay his bills there, along with all the booze I'm sure he keeps in his room, too."

Neither Piers nor I could say anything at first. None of what Alena had told us could be true. Chris, an alcoholic? Rude to everyone around him? Wandering around aimlessly in a drunken stupor? That didn't sound like him at all, and I was sure the bartender had to be talking about someone else, not the legendary Chris Redfield.

In fact, the only part about all this I could accept was the idea of him being a bodyguard and nobody crossing his path. I remembered how the sheer size of his muscles had allowed him to punch a freaking _boulder _back in Africa! Some bodyguard work didn't seem too outlandish with his build.

Piers, on the other hand, only looked down at the table, the expression on his face revealing a mix of shock and disappointment. He merely shook his head, clearly not wanting to believe that his former commanding officer had fallen from grace.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" Alena asked.

"No, that's it," Piers answered, looking up again, "Thanks for all your help."

"_Nema na čemu_," Alena retorted, "You're welcome." She stood up so that she could go back to the bar, but not before turning around to give us one last piece of information.

"Oh, one more thing. If you're looking to do business with him, he usually comes in around nine every night."

* * *

_**8:00 PM…**_

"This is crazy!" Reid piped up as we sat around our hotel room after leaving the bar, "How could this happen to Chris?"

"Guess he was just trying to find any way to pass time, since he doesn't remember anything," Keaton said in response, "I just hope there's a way we can help him."

"We'll come up with something," Jeff assured them, "We always do. I'm just glad he's not dead."

While the three of them continued to banter over Chris's current condition, I moved over to the window, which overlooked the rest of Berane. I was just getting ready to take my phone out and call Alexis again when we all suddenly heard Piers' radio go off.

"_HQ to Alpha Team. We have a situation over in China: a bioterrorist attack in the coastal province of Lanshiang. We don't have a lot of information yet, but we believe it might be the same virus that hit the Republic of Edonia six months ago. The Far East Branch is currently trying to contain the situation, but they're requesting backup from our branch. We heard you've also found Redfield in Montenegro. Get him back on the team and then head for China ASAP!_"

The radio went dead in Piers' hands, and at first, none of us could say anything, leaving the room in a stone cold silence. Just when things were starting to look up a bit, here we were back at square one. _Another _viral outbreak? How much worse could this get?

"Copy that," the sniper replied into the communicator, "We're on our way." He hung up and then faced us.

"You heard the man," he continued, "Let's go." He began gathering his belongings as the rest of us leaped up and did the same.

"What about Chris?" I asked, "How are we going to convince him to come back?"

"Don't worry about that," Piers quipped, "I'm gonna need all you guys' help, but I have an idea that just might work."

* * *

_I hope you're right about your master plan, Piers, _I thought as I pulled my cap low over my eyes and drummed my fingers on the table I was sitting at. Reid and Piers sat across from me, with the latter occasionally glancing at the entrance to the bar. It was 8:55 now, and we were all on pins and needles waiting for Chris to show up around 9:00. Like earlier, I spotted Alena at the bar, tending to a few customers, including a man who looked like he was a friend of hers.

Jeff and Keaton occupied the table next to us, checking to make sure their hoods were pulled up, and also like earlier, we all had drinks in front of us.

"I just hope we can get to China before things _really _get bad," Reid whispered.

"We will," Keaton assured him, "And we may be getting our captain back tonight."

At this last statement, Piers looked visibly relieved, but before I could ask him about it, he took out his phone and checked the time a few minutes later.

"I better go take my place," he said, "It's nine now."

"Good luck, Piers," we all whispered to him, and he nodded, grabbed his drink, and made his way over to the bar. Not too long after he did so, the door swung open, revealing none other than Chris Redfield himself!

"There he is," Jeff whispered, and I couldn't help but gasp as I took in his appearance.

Alena wasn't kidding when she said he was depressed and gruff-looking. He definitely looked it, with all the facial hair he had grown over the last six months. His eyes had no life in them, and the long black jacket he wore looked like it had been roughed up. Probably from all that bodyguard work. The way he walked was very aimless, like he was just totally lost and confused. _Poor Chris, _I thought, frowning as I tried not to make it obvious I was watching him.

Chris took a seat at the bar a few stools away from Piers, and he didn't even have to open his mouth before Alena poured a drink for him. The usual, I supposed. "Thanks," was all he said in a rough tone of voice as he took his first sip. He reached into his pocket and took out a pack of cigarettes, lighting one and puffing on it a few times before dispensing it in an ashtray in front of him. He eventually began smoking the entire pack, one right after the other, only pausing to sip his drink.

God. This was so painful to watch, and even though I was witnessing it, I _still _couldn't believe this was the same Chris Redfield who had given me a second chance after Africa. Here he was, just throwing his life away, and it didn't seem like he could sink any lower than he already had. _Only place to go from here is up, _I thought, _I hope. _

I eventually heard Piers order a plate of steak, potatoes, and vegetables at the bar, which was promptly brought out to him just as Chris finally gulped down the last of his drink a few seats away. My heart beat faster in my chest as I sipped on my own bottle of beer. _Here goes nothing, _I thought, crossing my fingers under the table.

"Another round," Chris requested in a slightly slurred speech, slamming his glass on the wooden surface. Alena just frowned, but complied, walking to the other side of the bar to get more of the alcoholic beverage. From where Reid and I were sitting, we had a pretty good view of what was going on where the others were, and Piers was now digging into his meal.

Ahh, food. Always a good way to break the ice, the sniper had told all of us earlier.

"Hard to find a good steak around here," Piers commented nonchalantly to Chris, "Not like back home."

Chris briefly met his gaze, just staring at him with a confused expression on his face, but not replying, probably wondering who the hell this random guy was. Instead, he just shook his head and glanced down at his glass, and Reid and I just sighed. _Well, that didn't work, _I thought, _Time for Plan B._

Alena found the bottle she was looking for and made her way back over to the "stray dog", pulling the cork out and only pouring him a little bit, not enough to fill the whole glass. In fact, it was barely even a splash. I guessed it didn't take much for the BSAA captain to get drunk these days.

And from what we could all see, Chris was none too pleased with his refill. "Fill her up," he growled.

"You've had enough," Alena insisted in a firm tone of voice.

"Shit," Reid and I heard Jeff hiss from his table.

"Listen, sweetheart," Chris rambled, yanking the bottle out of her hand, "You're here to pour drinks and look pretty, so how about you shut your mouth?"

I felt my mouth drop open as I exchanged shocked glances with Reid, Jeff, and Keaton. _Shit, _I thought. Alena wasn't kidding about that, either; he _was _rude! I remembered how much I had hated when Jake called me sweetheart back in Edonia, in that same disparaging tone of voice, so it wasn't hard for me to feel the same way about Chris.

Alena's face turned red with fury, and as Chris began pouring more alcohol for himself, she grabbed his glass and threw his drink in his face, earning another collective gasp from the rest of us. "How about _you _get the hell out of my bar?" she snapped in response. Piers visibly tensed up, but didn't say anything as Chris sighed, grabbed the bottle, and got up from his stool.

"Nowhere to go," he replied, though he drunkenly made his way towards the door anyway, swinging the bottle in his hand.

"Hey!" Alena's friend from earlier cried, walking up to Chris and scolding him in Serbian. Whatever he was saying didn't seem to sit well with the fallen BSAA legend, for he just carelessly pushed him out of the way. While I watched this exchange, something told me this wasn't the first time he had gotten into an altercation with the bar patrons.

"I said she asked you to leave," the friend stated in English as he reached out to touch Chris's shoulder. _Bad move, _I thought while Chris finally snapped, grabbed Alena's friend by the neck, and slammed his face into the table next to him.

"Oh my _God_," Keaton petitioned in horror as it looked like a bar brawl was about to erupt. If there was one thing that didn't seem to change about Chris Redfield after all this time, it was his temper. I had gotten a taste of it firsthand when he had discovered the truth about me in Africa. I was just getting ready to see if I could somehow break up the fight when Piers leaped down from the bar and grabbed Chris's wrist before he could bash the other man's head in with the bottle.

Chris whirled around, staring at the sniper in confusion as he continued to grip his wrist. "Never thought I'd find Chris Redfield wasting away in a _shithole _like this," he spat, letting go of the man in front of him as he stumbled into a table behind him. He no longer looked angry, but more confused than anything.

"Who the hell are you?" Chris asked, slurring his words a bit as he settled down at the table next to me and Reid. At this point, the two of us looked away and faced each other, only glancing out of the corner of our eyes.

"Piers," Piers replied, taking a seat across from his old commanding officer, "Piers Nivans?"

"Never heard o' ya," Chris said, waving his hand dismissively.

In the little I could still see, the sniper reached into his pocket, took out his phone, and pressed a few buttons. "How about this?" he asked, shoving the phone towards Chris, "You heard of this?" I assumed he was showing him the same pictures of Lanshiang he had shown the rest of us after HQ sent them to him.

"What is that?" Chris asked quietly.

"You really don't remember anything, do you? Bioterrorism."

"Bi…bio…" Chris murmured, groaning as he clutched his head. I turned my gaze to face him a little more, pulling my cap even lower over my eyes.

"You can't hide from your past, Chris," Piers told him, "No matter where you go or what you do."

Instead of looking angry, Chris suddenly looked scared and even more puzzled. "Who are you?" he demanded, "What _is_ this?"

Piers ignored his questions, remaining completely unfazed by the desperation in Chris's voice as he pushed the same buttons on his phone. "Okay," was all he said with a frown, "You don't remember me? Well, how about _them_?" He held the device out again.

"Look," he ordered, and sadness crossed Chris's face as he looked away. I wanted to reach out to him, and I wondered if he remembered anything of Edonia after all.

"I said _look_!" Piers snapped, leaping up from the table and practically shoving the phone in the Captain's face. _Holy shit, _I thought, gripping my beer bottle tightly and remembering just how intense the marksman could get. Clearly, Piers Nivans was going the tough love route tonight.

"Those were your men!" he yelled, "Men who died under _your _command! You owe it to them to remember, Chris! If you walk away now, then _this _was all for _nothing_!"

"_Enough!_" Chris shouted, slapping the phone away from him as he buried his face in his hands and let out a quiet sob. Piers took some deep breaths before sitting back down, looking frustrated and disappointed in his role model the whole time.

"Damn it," he hissed, "Six months of searching for you, and _this _is what I find!" He knocked an empty bottle out of the way, shook his head, and looked away from Chris, staring down at the floor. Reid and I just frowned, all of us trying to figure out what to do now when we suddenly heard a quiet voice speak up after a few minutes.

"BSAA…" Chris mumbled.

Piers immediately turned in his chair to face the BSAA legend again. "Yeah," he said, "It's where you belong. Everyone's waiting."

"Everyone?"

Piers turned to face the rest of us, which was our cue to finally reveal ourselves as more than just bar customers. Chris watched with wide eyes as we all pushed our chairs out and stood up, congregating behind Piers and staring at him expectantly. I pulled my cap up so it wasn't covering my face as much while the others removed their hoods.

"We're taking you back, Captain," Piers declared, "One way or another."

* * *

After the intervention at the bar, it was a relief to see that Chris had accepted our offer to come back to the BSAA, albeit reluctantly. Right now, he was sitting across from me while the rest of us made the final preparations for our mission. After we were finished here, we were going to go check him out of his own hotel room before finally leaving for China. We were now dressed in BSAA gear, ready to leave at any moment's notice.

"You're Audrey, right?"

I finished adjusting my braid as I glanced up at the BSAA captain. "That's me!" I replied, smiling, "Audrey Fagan. Renegade agent."

"Piers told me all your names before, and I'm still trying to remember. Might as well start with the small things if I'm going to get my old life back. And that's Jeff, Keaton, and Reid?" He pointed at the others, and I nodded in confirmation.

Chris eventually went back to glancing out the window, and I reached for my phone to update Alexis on my situation…only to have the call go straight to voicemail.

_Odd, _I thought, frowning at the phone. I knew it was now early evening at home, but it was strange that my sister wouldn't pick up her phone. Normally, she answered almost right away. _Maybe she's sleeping, _I thought, _Or in the bathroom or something. _

But when I tried calling her again a few minutes later, and even sending her a few texts, I still didn't get a response, with the text messages not even going through. I remembered how I had panicked when she hadn't come back immediately at the shooting range, and this reminded me of that, only worse. This time, we were on two different continents, and I couldn't just rush out to look for her.

"Lex, it's Audrey," I said when I got her voicemail for a third time, "If you're there, or whenever you get this message, please call me back right away." I hung up, my heart racing as I instantly had a flashback to the time she had gone missing on the tanker in Africa.

The second time Piers' radio went off, I found myself freezing in horror again, but for an entirely different reason.

"_HQ to Alpha. Good work on getting Chris Redfield back. We've just gotten word that another outbreak has occurred in the United States, in the city of Tall Oaks. The US Government has refused our assistance there, so just focus on dropping into China to help the Far East branch get the situation under control._"

"_No!_" the other agents cried.

"Not another one!" Jeff yelled, while I could only think of one, horrifying realization.

_Alexis_!

* * *

_**Earlier that evening...**_

**I never realized how quiet the apartment could get without Audrey around, even as I finished the assignment Jill had left for us. I supposed it was because she was way more talkative than I was, and I had to smile. She had only been gone for almost a whole day and I already missed her. **

**Meanwhile, I picked up the two tickets we had received in the mail concerning Benford's lecture. Audrey and I had planned to go together, but with Piers' sudden call to my sister and her flying over to Europe, that was now a no go. **_**Might as well try and go over there anyway, **_**I thought, pocketing one of the tickets, **_**Just to give myself something to do. Maybe I'll learn something new, and I can fill Audrey in on it when she comes back. **_

**With that, I hopped off my bed and slipped on a light blue sundress, followed by a pair of sneakers and a jacket in case I got cold inside the auditorium. I grabbed the closest pair of high heels in reach and threw them in a bag, figuring I could change into them once I got there. The college campus was in walking distance, but I didn't wear high heels often and I didn't want to tire my feet out. **

**After applying a little bit of make up and straightening my hair, I wrapped a hair tier around my wrist, grabbed my handbag, and left the apartment, beginning the trek to Ivy University. I didn't want to imagine how bad the traffic was going to be, and I was even more thankful that I could just walk there. The whole town was probably shut down because of this event, with police checkpoints everywhere. **

**By the time I got to the gate leading into the campus, I spotted metal detectors that had been set up, and a long line of people waiting to go inside. In front of the metal detectors were two lines for people to present their tickets, and before I grabbed a spot on one of them, I sat down on the nearest bench to change my shoes. **

"**Hey, Liz!" I heard a boy pipe up, and I paused in buckling my heel strap as I watched a family of four flash their tickets to one of the workers. **

"**Thanks for getting us awesome seats!" he continued, "At least we won't be all the way in the nose bleed section, like we always are!" **

**The girl, Liz, who looked to be around my age, just laughed and ruffled the teenaged boy's hair, and I assumed that was her younger brother. **

**She straightened out her red shirt as she replied, "That's the perks of buying the tickets ahead of time, Liam. I was one of the first people on the box office line!" **

"**I just wonder what sort of truth the President is going to talk about," the man next to Liz and Liam, who I guessed was their father, quipped next, "He's calling it a Truth Seminar for a reason, right?" **

"**Guess we'll find out," Liz said, "Come on, let's hurry up before the crowd gets even bigger." **

**And with that, they hurried off the line to claim their spots on the shortest line for the metal detectors. Following their example, I hurriedly slipped my other heel on, buckling it and then taking my place on the first line. The crowd around me buzzed in excitement over President Benford's speech, and I was glad I had decided to go after all. The only downside was that I didn't know anyone else here, but I wouldn't let that stop me from having a good time. **

**The line slowly snaked forward, and while I waited to present my ticket, I looked around, noticing a group of Secret Service agents maneuvering through another part of the campus. Come to think of it, there were quite a few groups of them on the move, almost as if they were searching the university, something that probably should have been done **_**long **_**before tonight. **_**Hmm, **_**I thought, **_**Interesting. **_

"**Alexis? Alexis Fagan, is that you?" **

**I stopped in my place as I heard a man's voice call out to me. There was someone here that knew **_**me**_**? Unlike Audrey, I had kept such a low profile in this universe that I was surprised anyone was calling me out by name. **

**I turned to my right as a familiar face greeted me: a man with blonde hair, a black leather jacket, a buttoned shirt, and khakis. **

"**Leon!" I gasped. **

"**Yeah, it's me," Leon Kennedy confirmed, shaking my hand, "You're Audrey's sister. We met in Africa, remember?" **

**I thought back to that brief moment when I had come face to face with both him and Claire, after we had returned to the BSAA's West African headquarters. I hadn't said anything to him, but I knew he and my sister had talked briefly. **

"**I remember that," I said, "Audrey introduced us. She was actually supposed to join me tonight, but she got called away on business." **

"**How is Audrey? Has she been staying out of trouble?" **

"**Pretty much. We both have." I took a deep breath and folded my hands together. **_**Wait 'til I tell Audrey that I ran into Leon Scott Kennedy here, **_**I thought, **_**She'll love that.**_

"**So," I continued, "How have you been? Are you here for President Benford's seminar, too?" **

"**More or less," Leon replied, "When you get past all this security, come and find me. I'll be inside getting a few more things ready." **

**I noticed my heart had begun to beat faster, but I exhaled again and smiled at Leon. "Sure," I said, "I'll meet you inside!" With a tentative wave, he disappeared, and I couldn't help but feel relieved. Even if Leon wasn't entirely trustworthy of me, I was glad there was at least someone else here that I knew. **

* * *

**Once I got past the metal detectors, I sighed as I made my way towards the auditorium, looking for Leon in the process. I nearly had to elbow my way through the crowd, but I stopped myself in time. There was no need for that; I was almost inside, and it wasn't like I needed to rush and get a good seat. **

"**Out of my way!" a voice cried as someone bumped into me and nearly sent me crashing into the person in front of me. **

"**Careful!" I shouted, looking up in time to see a woman with shoulder-length brown hair running away from me. **_**Sheesh, **_**I thought, fixing my own hair again, **_**What's the hurry? **_

**I shrugged, following the rest of the audience inside and craning my neck as I continued to search for Leon. He wasn't here, either, and I figured I could just find him after the presentation was over instead. **

**Once I made it inside, I found my seat a few rows away from the stage, and I promptly sat down, looking around once more. Liz and her family were getting settled in a few rows away from me, and the place was almost packed now. Who would want to miss an opportunity to see the President of the United States speak? I knew I didn't, especially for this so-called "Truth Seminar". **

**The giant clock on the wall revealed the time to be 7:30 P.M., with the lecture set to begin at 8:00. **_**It's go time, **_**I thought, **_**I wonder if Leon's here to introduce the President.**_

**By the time it was almost 8:30, however, the presentation **_**still **_**hadn't started yet, and various people in the audience became restless, with others looking at their watches and sighing impatiently. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I began to wonder if everything was all right. First, the Secret Service had been searching the campus for some reason, and now the seminar was starting late? Did something happen to the President? **

"**Where's Benford?" I heard one of the college students ask a few seats away from me, "I didn't skip my Bio class to buy tickets only to look at an empty stage all night!" **

"**Relax, Aaron," his friend tried to coax him, "You've just gotta be patient. He'll be here." **

"**Yeah, well, I've got other plans tonight. I'm meeting Leila right after this." **

**I leaned forward in my seat so that I could tell him that Benford was probably just doing some last minute warm-ups for his speech when I realized why he seemed so restless. I knew everyone else was getting impatient with the long delay, but this young man seemed abnormally flustered. He was rocking back and forth in his chair as he repeatedly scratched his wrist, making the skin turn red from irritation. **

**Apparently, his friend must have noticed it as well. "Aaron?" he asked in a concerned voice, "You okay?" **

**Aaron continued to scratch his wrist. "I don't know," he replied, "I've been feeling really itchy since we got here, and it's getting worse no matter what I do." **

_**Itchy, huh? **_**I thought, and for some reason, I was getting a bad feeling in my gut. I looked around the audience again, noticing that Aaron wasn't the only one feeling that way. Other people were irritating their skin as well, and others were breaking out in a sweat. This couldn't just be a coincidence. Why were all these people scratching themselves? **

**Suddenly, I heard Aaron cough violently, and I whirled around again to see him resting his head between his knees, spitting out blood from his mouth. "Aaron!" his friend shouted, completely panicked as the others sitting near them leaped out of their seats to avoid the splatter. **

"**Aaron?" **

**Aaron groaned. "I'm fine," he croaked, "Don't worry about me, Jason." **

"**No way, man. I'm taking you to the doctor. Let's go." **

**The two of them got up, and I watched them worriedly as they stepped over the rest of us to get back to the aisle. While they headed for the exit, I glanced at the clock again and saw it was 8:35. Out of habit, I began drumming my fingers in an attempt to calm myself down, then resorting to reaching for my program. I was getting ready to flip it to the first page when I suddenly heard a piercing scream from the opposite end of the auditorium. **

"**Jenny!" a woman yelled, "**_**Jenny!**_**" **

**I bolted up from my seat just as everyone began looking in Jenny's direction, where the woman was coughing violently like Aaron and having a seizure. "Help!" her friend shouted, "Somebody help us!" **

**A man sitting close to where Liz and her family were jumped up and ran over to help her before I could move, and while he did that, I glanced around again, wondering why people were starting to have fits and getting sick. **_**Is there something in the air? **_**I thought. **

**The next place I turned my gaze to, however, provided all the answers I needed. Nobody must have noticed it before, including me, but now, I could just barely make out a thin blue fog that was seeping out of a vent in the corner of the room. **_**What the hell is that? **_**I thought to myself, gasping. "Guys, I think we need to get out of here!" I shouted, "Look!" **

**Before anybody could follow my gaze over to the vent, another bloodcurdling scream pierced the air. **

"**Jenny, stop it!" the same woman yelled, "**_**Stop it**_**!" **

**The people sitting around Jenny suddenly began to scream as well, bolting up from their seats in an attempt to get away from her, and when I stood up again, I saw what was happening. **

"**Jenny!" Jenny's friend cried, her voice going raw, and when I got a glimpse at Jenny herself, I noticed her skin had turned blue and her veins were visible underneath. She tackled the man trying to help her to the ground and leaned in to bite his neck, and horrified, I began to move away from my seat. **

"**Oh, shit, **_**Aaron**_**!" Jason cried, and as I had feared after watching Jenny's episode, Aaron's skin was now tinged with blue as well, and he was throwing Jason to the ground and biting his neck as well. **

_**Now**_** the whole auditorium was in a state of complete pandemonium. All around me, the other patrons jumped out of their chairs and dashed towards the exits, screaming, pushing and shoving each other in the process. Others fell to the floor, and the more people collapsed, the more others began to develop zombie-like qualities. **

"**Oh, **_**shit**_**!" I cursed out loud, leaping out of Aaron's reach as he finished attacking Jason and tried to swipe at my leg next. I stumbled and collapsed on the now empty chair next to me, and I hurriedly kicked off my high heels. Forget my bag. My life was more important right now. **

**Once the shoes were off, I stood up again and managed to grab my sneakers in time before Aaron tried to swoop in for the kill. Tucking them under my arm, I sprinted towards the aisle, where everyone else was trying to make an escape as well. I couldn't see Liz or her family in the chaos, and I hoped none of them had turned into zombies. While I tried to elbow my way through the growing crowd, I glanced over my shoulder at the vent again, where the blue fog was thickening and almost filling the whole room in a giant plume. Many people's mouths hung open, and as soon as the substance hit their faces, they collapsed, only to leap back up again as ferocious zombies. **_**It's the fog, **_**I realized, **_**Aaron and Jenny must have breathed enough of it in for it to affect them like this! **_

"**Guys!" I shouted over the din to anyone who would listen to me, "Whatever you do, try not to breathe in that blue substance!" **

"_**What?**_**" someone gasped, but before I could repeat myself, someone smacked me right across the face, causing me to fall to the ground. **

"**AHH!" I yelped, feeling someone's foot step on my back, followed by about five more. My insides were on fire, and I felt bile rise up to my throat as I rolled out of the way of the panicking crowd to avoid being asphyxiated. I ducked under the seats, using that time to catch my breath and figure out how **_**not **_**to breathe in the fog, all while managing to slip my sneakers on. My back and chest still hurt, and every time I went to sit up, I felt a stabbing pain. My eyes welled up with tears, but I refused to cry. Thank God Audrey wasn't here to deal with this. **

**Somewhere above me, the lights shut off, making everyone panic even **_**more**_** as the blue fog enveloped almost the entire auditorium, making it nearly impossible **_**not **_**to inhale it. To my horror, there weren't as many screams as before, but only the sound of zombies growling. As I slowly picked myself up again after the stampede, I pinched my nose and only took shallow breaths through my mouth, keeping my lips nearly sealed shut and hoping for the best. **

**At one point, the fog thinned out a little bit, and once I stood up and made it back to the aisle, which was much less crowded, I caught a glimpse of what was producing the deadly toxin in the first place. **

_**Oh, God, what is that thing? **_**I thought as I took in the creature standing close to the stage on the other side of the room. It had a pear-shaped body, pores all over its stomach, and pale skin bordering on green. Its arms and legs were thin, but it had a wide mouth that was twisted into a grin, showing all its teeth. So **_**that **_**was where the gas was coming from! Probably its pores! It must have been hiding in the vent the whole time! **

**Right now, it was on the other side of the room, making an obnoxious gagging noise before it screamed and sprinted towards a group of survivors close to it. As they screamed and tried to get out of its way, I continued to make my way towards the exit, only to find my path blocked by more zombies and other people attempting to make an escape. Outside in the hallway, windows smashed open as people tried to escape, only to be pulled back in. **

**With that way being blocked, I turned and headed towards an emergency exit off to the side, where a few more patrons were running now. The screams on the other side of the room died down, the gagging from a few seconds ago taking its place. The people in front of me dashed through the emergency door, but before I could follow them, I noticed the noise was getting louder. I gulped and glanced over my shoulder, watching as the other survivors collapsed, and the BOW looked around briefly before turning in my direction. **

_**Shit, shit, SHIT!**_** I thought frantically as the monster suddenly broke out into a run, barreling towards me with surprising speed, given its size. I sprinted as fast as I could, though my chest and back still hurt from being trampled, and a few times, I nearly stumbled before I picked myself up again. I was almost to the door when I felt a pair of rough hands grab me. **

"**AHH!" I screamed as the BOW spun me around until I was facing it, and just as it was about to attack, I grabbed its other hand and tried to push it away from me. Not only was it fast, but it was strong as well, resisting my attempts to knock it down. It continued to squeal, and eventually opened its mouth to reveal a long, dark blue tongue. **

_**Oh, God! **_**I thought as I suddenly felt it literally shove its tongue down my throat, reaching all the way down to the stomach as it coughed into my mouth. "Ugh!" I shrieked, grabbing the tongue to try and yank it away from me. A cloud of blue fog surrounded me, and too late, I realized exactly what it was doing to me. **

**With one final growl and a shove, I used my foot to kick it in the stomach and my hand to push it away, watching as it screamed and stumbled back. Its tongue rushed up my esophagus and out of my mouth, leaving a burning sensation in my throat as I clutched myself and used that chance to stagger away through the door. The remaining screams of desperate survivors, snarls of zombies, and the gagging from the BOW all faded the further I moved away from the auditorium. My throat still burned, not helped by the throbbing chest and back pain, but at least I was out of the auditorium. **

**I continued to move, hoping to find anyone that wasn't infected yet, though at the rate this was spreading, it didn't seem like there was anyone human left. **

**Including me if I didn't hurry up. **

**While I maneuvered my way through the hallways, I coughed and sputtered, spitting out more of the blue toxin that the BOW had forced into my system, and a thick sweat broke out on my forehead as I tied my hair up into a high ponytail and shrugged off my jacket. It was like my whole body was on fire, as if I was having a fever that wouldn't break. **

**There was no one else around as I pushed my way into the reception hall, except for a few distant screams, but by now, my vision faded in and out, my skin growing hotter by the second. Water. I needed water right now. The only problem was, there was nothing to drink around here. **

"**Stay right where you are!" I heard a voice shout, but because I was feeling delirious now, I couldn't make out who it was or where it was coming from. Everything was way too loud, as if my hearing had somehow strengthened, and it made my head hurt. Hell, even my own **_**footsteps **_**made my ears ring. **

**I turned to the right, pushing my way through another dark hallway, the world spinning around me as I fought to keep myself from throwing up. **

"**Mr. President!" the same voice cried, and in a brief moment of clarity, it hit me that the President was in some kind of trouble. Was that why he never showed up to make his presentation? **

"**Don't make me do this! **_**Adam**_**!" **

**And the last thing I heard before finally passing out was the sound of a single gunshot. **


	8. First Encounter

Okay! Here's the next chapter of "Divide and Conquer"! Thanks again to everyone who's been reading, reviewing, favoriting, and alerting this story! I really appreciate it! :D

P.S.- In the last chapter, I made Alexis's part bold, but I decided to try something different with her in this chapter. Let me know what you think of the way I'm using the fonts for her narration!

**DISCLAIMER: **Only my OCs, plot ideas, and liberties with the original game are mine. Everything else belongs to Capcom.

* * *

_**Alexis...**_

Images.

All I could see were images, flashing before my eyes as I tried to make sense of where I was and what had happened to me. My body tingled all over, and I could barely detect a pulse or a beating heart.

Was I dead? Had that toxin killed me like it had the other people in the auditorium? How long had I been in this void? And would I ever wake up?

And what about Audrey? Was she all right? So many questions that I feared I would never get the answers to.

Instead, I focused on the fleeting images, which were putting themselves together and showing a very familiar face. A face I hoped I would never have to see again…

* * *

_"Where do you think you're going?" Albert Wesker asked from behind me after I had failed in my attempt to escape from the Tricell facility in Africa. __Fuck! __I cursed to myself as I turned to face him. He was staring at me and carrying a syringe in his hand._

_"Leaving so soon?" he continued, "But the fun hasn't even started yet."_

_"And it won't," I assured him, "You have to let me and Jill go."_

_"Why should I when it's much more fun to play with both of you?" And with that, I felt him stick the needle into my neck._

_"Ow!" I whimpered, "Get off of me!" But he stuck the needle further and further into my neck just as I spotted Excella making her way over to us gracefully. I hated her. I hated both of them. I struggled for a little bit before finally stepping away from Wesker and next to Excella._

_"This is the same virus I used on your sister when she was injured," he explained, "Don't panic if you feel…off balance in any way. It's normal."_

_I fumed. "You son of a-"_

_"Ahh, watch who you're speaking to. You're just as bad as she was. Excella, take her back inside. And increase the security around here. We can't have her or Jill escape again. They won't." And as Excella began leading me back inside, I did feel off-balance, and my head started to kill me, all while Wesker stared in our direction for the whole time. _

* * *

At the thought of Albert Wesker, my blood boiled, though I knew I couldn't risk letting my body basically barbecue itself. I had told Audrey not to let his memory bother her, and it seemed like I needed to start taking my own advice. I remembered the day Wesker had first infected me like it was yesterday, and how according to him, that hadn't been enough once I had shown signs of resisting it. Now I was really getting mad, and even though I couldn't move, I forced myself to control my anger.

The memories flashed before me, dragging me down as I had no choice but to remember the past, and remember what had brought me to this very moment in the first place.

* * *

_"Wesker?" I asked as he finished pouring water on the burn and now rubbed some burn cream on me, "Is Audrey here? In Africa?"_

_For a minute, Wesker looked up and met my curious expression. "What would make you assume that?" he asked quietly. I sighed and tilted my head back._

_"I heard her voice earlier," I explained, "Just outside the mines. I have to know." I cringed again as Wesker pressed down on the burn once more. It didn't hurt as much, but it was tender._

_"You're lucky," Wesker told me as he continued to heal the burns and conveniently avoided my question, "Anymore from that beam and you would have had a worse burn than this. This is only the second degree." I sighed and leaned back in the chair._

_"You didn't answer my question," I reminded him, clutching my shoulder. He simply moved my hand out of the way so that he could cover the blistering burn with a long gauze bandage._

_"Impatient, are we?" he replied, "Just let me heal you before…"_

_"Before what?"_

_"Before I run some…tests on you. Excella said you were influencing Jill. And I cannot allow that."_

_"You answer my question first!" I snapped, despite the sudden pounding headache and the burn throbbing through the gauze bandages, "Where's my sister?"_

_Wesker rounded on me as I picked myself up from the chair I was sitting in. "No more questions," was all he said, "You have already placed me behind schedule." I rolled my eyes as I felt him inject something else into my neck. __Probably a sedative, __I thought._

_"You don't care about your sister," he told me in a reassuring voice, "And you won't after this." I felt him lead me into another testing room, where a capsule similar to Jill's cryostasis greeted us. Remembering how claustrophobic I was, I instantly began to resist._

_"No!" I cried, "What are you going to do to me? Where's Audrey?"_

_"It seems the virus was not enough for you," Wesker explained, shoving me inside the capsule, "You were able to resist, but you won't get out of this one." He hooked my arms and legs to the machine itself, and my heart beat furiously._

_"You know something, don't you?" I asked, "Where is she?"_

_But Wesker finally finished hooking me up to the capsule, and the last thing I remembered before feeling everything turn to liquid around me and fade to black was Wesker, with his sunglasses covering his eyes, smiling and waving at me. _

* * *

The thought of him infecting me for the sole purpose of turning me against my own sister was enough to make me fight back against him, but at a price: I was now stuck with the first virus and Progenitor in my system.

I wanted to turn away from these memories, to stop recalling all the horrible experiments Jill and I had been put through at that facility, but one more instance where Wesker had tried to infect me crept up out of nowhere and dragged me down yet again…

* * *

_"Excella!" I cried, running over to the Tricell CEO and trying to help her up after she had gotten sick from drinking a glass of champagne, "Are you okay?"_

_She ignored me and stared up at Wesker in confusion. "A-Albert," she choked, "What did you put in that drink? What the hell did you do to me?"_

_Wordlessly, Wesker extracted an empty syringe from his pocket, and I could have sworn I saw "Aheri" scribbled on the side. My mind frantically made the connection as I stared from the syringe, to my still full glass of champagne, and finally to a writhing Excella. "No, you didn't!" I gasped._

_"This one I like to call…Uroboros Aheri," Wesker explained to us, "We'll see how it reacts to Excella."_

_"No!" she cried, "I can't believe you did this to me! This wasn't intended for me!"_

_"Oh, you'll feel differently in due time. Out you go." And with that, he shoved her out of the room and locked the door behind her, where her furious protests and agonizing cries of pain reached our ears. Wesker ignored her and then faced me next._

_"I was never going to include her in my plans," he explained to me while I just stared at him with a shell-shocked expression, "This is __my __world to change! No one else's!" From his pocket, he pulled out another syringe that had "Aheri" labeled on it from what I could see. __Oh, shit__, I thought to myself._

_Slowly approaching me with the needle out, Wesker simply said, "You're next. Just hold still, and this won't hurt a bit." At the sight of the needle, I began to vigorously shake my head and I backed up. After what he had done to Excella, no way was I allowing him anywhere near me with that needle._

_"No thanks, Mad Scientist," I mumbled under my breath. But he continued to move forward towards me to try and give me Uroboros._

_"Don't you want to be blessed by a gift from a god? Just hold still."_

_"I said no!" _

* * *

While the viruses hadn't really affected me other than to try and force me to kill Audrey, I wasn't sure what would happen this time around, especially with this new toxin in me. Looking back on the last time I had seen Wesker before his death in the volcano, I realized that with Progenitor, I might have been able to accept Uroboros without mutating, unlike Excella, but I didn't want to take my chances. And I wouldn't take my chances with this new substance now.

As I tried to open my eyes, I remembered the tragedy in Edonia, and the pained look on Finn's face as his whole body had burst into flames. He had been such a nice person and it was sad to see him go like that. _All_ of them, really. I thought back to that moment and the fever I had experienced earlier, recalling how I felt like I was going to combust any second, and I wondered if what had spread through the auditorium was the same virus from Edonia.

With that, I finally managed to pry my eyes open, blinking as I regained my vision. I was still sweating profusely, but I no longer felt the fire under my skin, and I finally managed to detect a faint pulsing in my wrist. Instead, a bitter, cold sensation replaced the heat, leaving me to shiver, and since I had taken off my jacket, I put it back on instead. The black and white checkered tile floor I had been resting on was a welcome relief, that was for sure.

"Thank God you're awake," a weak voice suddenly spoke up, making me jump and whirl around to face the corner of the room, inducing a debilitating headache in the process.

I could barely make out the click clacking of high heels as a young woman stepped out of the shadows. If my sense of hearing had strengthened before, it seemed to have gone back to normal now. I took in the owner of the voice, recognizing the red T-shirt, light brown hair, and blue eyes.

"I didn't know if you were still human or not," Liz continued, cautiously approaching me, "But you seem to be okay. I found you a couple of rooms away and brought you here, where it's safe for now." Right after she said that, she coughed, nearly hacking her lungs out, which made me realize she might have been infected as well. Her skin had the same slight blue tinge that Aaron and Jenny's had.

"Sorry," she apologized, "I think I might have breathed in some of that fog from before, but it wasn't that much."

"It's okay," I replied, my voice cracking as I spoke for the first time, "You're still alive, and that's all that matters. Thanks for helping me out, too." I wiped my hand on my stained dress and held it out to her.

"I'm Alexis, by the way."

"Liz," Liz retorted, shaking my hand, "It's nice to meet you, Alexis."

I smiled, and the two of us began heading towards the door so that we could try and find a way to escape. My vision was still a little fuzzy, and my head throbbed on and off. Pins and needles ran throughout my limbs, making movement a little awkward as well, and the two of us eventually leaned on each other for support.

"So are you here with anyone else?" Liz asked.

"No," I answered in a raspy voice, shaking my head, "My sister was supposed to come with me, but she had to leave for Europe at the last minute, thank God. What about you?"

Liz sighed, coughing a little more in the process. "I was here with my family, but I got separated from them in the chaos. I know my dad is still here, but I haven't seen my mom or my brother yet. Or if they're even still…you know…"

"I'm sure they're all okay. We'll find them in no time." This time, I was the one that coughed, spitting up the remnants of blue toxin in my stomach.

"Easy," Liz coaxed me, rubbing my shoulder, "I guess you got it bad just like I did."

I just shrugged. "There was something…something running around the auditorium," I explained, "Something that wasn't human. I don't know exactly what it was, but-"

_Clank!_ Suddenly, we both heard something clatter to the ground in the distance, making us jump and stop where we were. "What was that?" Liz whispered in a fearful tone.

I didn't say anything in response, only keeping my ears open for anymore suspicious sounds. The university campus must have been overrun by now, and the last thing we needed was for a bunch of zombies to find us and kill us.

We continued to move as quickly as possible, covering a lot of ground pretty fast. We also tried to remain quiet so as not to attract the zombies, but it was tough when we were both coughing our lungs out and expelling more of the virus. Liz already looked worse for the wear, and I was worried she wouldn't make it after all. If _she_ was getting delirious from inhaling just a little bit, then what was going to happen to _me_?

"Just hang in there, Liz," I said to the woman next to me, "We'll find someone soon."

To my surprise, Liz just chuckled darkly. "Trust me," she responded, "I'm the last one you should be worrying about. You don't look so good yourself."

As soon as she said that, I felt the pins and needles sensation return, almost like a rude reminder that I was in just as much danger as she was. _Thanks for that_, I thought, continuing to head towards the door up ahead. Liz moved slightly in front of me, since she knew this campus much better than I did.

Working together, we pried open a door up ahead, my arms feeling like dead weight when I tried to use the muscles in them, and I hoped the feeling wouldn't last forever. Once we poked our heads into the next room and decided there wasn't any danger, we crept forward…only to have another door burst open to the right.

Liz immediately stopped, causing me to stumble into her as she halted right in front of a piano, a bright light appearing out of nowhere and blinding both of us. Damn it! I thought, looking away and covering my eyes. This was almost as bad as staring straight at the sun. Not that I had ever done that, but I figured my eyes were still sensitive from the infection.

"Liz!" a voice cried out, and Liz collapsed to the ground just as someone rushed over to her and hugged her. Thankfully, whoever it was had turned the light away from us, allowing me to get a good look at who else was here.

"D-dad?" Liz croaked, "Where are Mom and Liam?"

"They already got out," her father explained to her, "They're waiting for us at home. I'm just glad you're okay." He hugged her again and helped her to stand up, letting her lean on him for support.

So the rest of her family hadn't been infected! Thank God. At least now she'd be able to escape with her dad.

"Leon," an unfamiliar female voice whispered, "I think someone else is here."

Suddenly, the blinding light was back, and I stumbled backwards as I fled to a dark corner of the room. Oh, no. Leon was here?

"Alexis?" Leon called out, "Is that you?"

I took deep breaths to calm myself down, thinking about how he was still alive and seemed to have escaped the fog. Now that I wasn't burning up anymore, I had the clarity to realize that it was his voice I had heard earlier, before the President…well, before he was shot. _The hell?_ I thought, _Why did Leon shoot President Benford? Was he infected, too?_

"You two go ahead," Leon said to Liz and her father, "We'll meet you in the hallway. I'm gonna see if I can get Alexis to show herself." He put the flashlight away and began making his way towards me while I attempted to move out of his line of sight.

"We'll never get to the cathedral at this rate," I thought I heard the woman mutter under her breath, but I ignored it for now. Leon was getting closer, and there was nowhere else I could go and hide.

"Alexis, wait!" he shouted, grabbing my shoulder. I whirled around and shoved his hand away from me, backing up as I held my hands out in front of me.

"Stay back!" I warned, hoping my voice sounded stern enough, "I'm infected!"

"What are you talking about?" Leon asked, "You still sound human!"

"I mean it! I don't wanna pass this on to you or your partner."

"Leon," the woman piped up from the entrance to the room.

But Leon refused to leave. "If we can help Liz and her father, we can help Alexis, too."

"Are you sure we can even trust her?"

"No. But we're going to have to take our chances." He turned to me and held out a hand.

"Just come with us," he said, "And if you are infected, we'll see what we can do to try and help you."

I really wasn't sure about this. What if I lost control and finally turned into a zombie like everyone else had? The incubation period for this virus didn't appear to be too long. Maybe it depended on how much one ended up inhaling. Maybe since I had been inundated with it, it would take longer to completely settle itself in my body, if it hadn't already. Maybe I still had a chance to survive. Maybe, maybe, maybe…

"All right," I decided, stepping out of the shadows to finally look Leon in the eye, hoping and praying I could live through this. The agent just nodded, taking me by the arm and leading me towards the door where the other woman was waiting.

"Alexis, this is Secret Service Agent Helena Harper," he said, gesturing to the agent as we returned to the hallway, "And Helena, this is Alexis Fagan. Her sister was…on a mission with me back in Spain."

As Helena Harper and I quickly shook hands, I took in her appearance. Now that I was meeting her face to face, I realized there was something familiar about her from earlier tonight.

"You're the one that bumped into me outside the auditorium!" I realized.

Helena pulled her hand away from me and continued to lead the way as we caught up with Liz and her father. "Sorry," she apologized, "But I was in a hurry. Just like we should probably pick up the pace now. Who knows how much time we have left?" I could almost hear the unspoken _You've slowed us down_ in her tone of voice, which made me frown. The further we traveled, the more I wondered if Helena was going to end up being my version of Piers. Just like the sniper didn't care for Audrey, it seemed the Secret Service agent wasn't too fond of me, either.

Up ahead, Liz coughed again, her voice going raw as she nearly collapsed. Her father quickly helped her to stand up again, and he glanced over his shoulder as he said, "There's an elevator just up ahead. It should work, and we can leave through the underground parking garage."

"Sounds like a plan," Leon replied, "Come on, let's get this junk out of the way." He and Helena moved forward to push a few broken poles to the side, and Liz and her father ducked down so that they could pass through. I followed suit, and Leon and Helena let go of the debris, hurrying us along. While we called the elevator, I thought back to the moment when Helena had mentioned something about a cathedral. I knew the Tall Oaks Cathedral was just outside the city, but why did we need to get there so badly? Why was she always acting like she was in a hurry to go somewhere?

* * *

After Liz's father swiped his keycard in a slot next to the elevator a few minutes later, the doors opened, allowing all of us to climb in and descend to the underground parking garages.

"So, Alexis," Leon piped up, "Why didn't you come find me as soon as you made it into the building?"

I looked down at my hands, which still felt like I had pins and needles in them, and shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I figured I'd just wait until afterwards. I didn't know if you were with the President or not and I didn't want to disturb anything."

As soon as I mentioned the President, Leon and Helena exchanged a glance, but before anybody could comment any further, Liz collapsed to the ground as she began coughing violently again. Her father quickly knelt down next to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. _Oh, no_, I thought, feeling a coughing fit start to build up myself, _Hang in there, Liz. You can make it!_

"It's going to be okay, Lizzie," Liz's father whispered to her, "You're going to be okay. We're almost there."

"Please, Liz," I pleaded, "You made it this far, and you saved my life back there."

But the more Liz hacked her lungs up and gained a lethargic expression in her eyes, the more her situation began to feel hopeless. "D-dad," she choked, holding his gaze before the virus finally forced her to pass on. I just sighed and clenched my fist, looking away as her father began to cry, holding his daughter in his hands as he began coughing as well. Leon and Helena glanced down at the floor, their faces showing sadness as well, but before any of us could say anything to comfort Liz's father, the elevator suddenly jolted and caused the overhead lights to flicker and then burn out for good.

"The power!" Helena gasped, and as soon as I realized we were stuck here for the time being, I began to panic. Even though small spaces had ended up saving my life in Africa, I was still a little claustrophobic and I hated the thought of being stuck in an elevator. Even worse was that now that Liz was dead, I knew what was about to happen, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

"Guys, be careful," I warned in a low voice as Leon and Helena took out some flashlights and turned them on. A horrible crunching noise reached our ears, and though I had an idea of what was happening, I still didn't want to hear it or see it.

"Oh my God!" the Secret Service agent cried as she shined her light on a horrifying sight: Liz crouching over her father and biting his neck. She snarled and growled, letting go of him before looking up at us, her skin pale and her eyes now a pale green.

"YAHHH!" she yelled, leaping up and grabbing Leon by the shoulders. _Shit!_ I thought.

"She's already gone!" Leon yelled, "Shoot her!" He continued to hold her off while Helena fumbled for her pistol and took aim, firing a few rounds that hit Liz in the shoulder. She backed away from him and barreled towards me next, reaching for my arms, but I ducked out of the way before she could inflict anymore damage on me.

Liz reached for Helena instead, throwing her to the ground and causing Leon to take aim this time until I was able to move in and hold her down. Helena crouched down on the other side and shot her point blank in the head, putting her out of her misery once and for all.

"Helena?" I asked, "You okay?"

Helena stood back up and wiped some blood off her shirt. "I'm fine," she whispered, "I…I just can't believe this…"

"Well, get used to it," Leon told her, "It's either them or us, and they don't hesitate."

"Well, if I ever end up like that," I began, but Leon cut me off.

"You won't," he insisted, "You're going to be okay. All right?"

I forced myself to nod, and we just waited in silence for the elevator to eventually make it to its destination. "Why did this have to happen?" Helena whispered to herself, though we didn't have an answer for her.

A little bit of a breeze seeped in through the elevator door, and I realized we were at the underground parking garage at last. Only problem was…

"I don't think we're alone in here," Helena commented.

"I don't think so, either," Leon agreed, "Helena, grab your gun."

While the two of them aimed their guns at the door, I glanced down at my hands, realizing I had virtually nothing, and I figured these two expected me to be able to take care of myself. I was going to have to somehow get my hands on a weapon, too, if I wanted to increase my chances of survival, which were already looking pretty low. But would I be able to take aim if I needed to? Even though I had had a gun in Edonia, I had resorted more to using melee against the J'avo. If Audrey was here right now, she'd be able to help me.

_Well, get over that_, I told myself fiercely, _Audrey ISN'T here, thank God, and you can't rely on her for everything. You held your own in Africa, and you can do it again._

"Shit!" Leon cursed, and he and Helena began to open fire on a group of zombies trying to enter the elevator. The ones that the others didn't shoot, I moved forward to perform melee on them. What I didn't count on was my arm feeling like lead when I went to throw in a punch. _Ugh_, I thought, my arm swinging like it was being completely weighed down, just like Liz's had when she tried to backhand Leon.

Out in the garage, a bunch of car alarms began to ring until it sounded like all the cars were sounding off, making my ears and head hurt. I raised a hand to my forehead and sprinted out of the elevator, swinging my heavy arms at whoever got in my way and being careful not to tire myself out too quickly. One of them swung an axe at me, but eventually collapsed after Helena shot him in the back. Once he was defeated, I reached down and picked up the axe, figuring it was better than nothing for now. It was a lot heavier than I thought it would be, though. If only my arms didn't feel so dead…

The gate leading to the exit was still shut, blocking our way, along with a brand new horde of zombies. "That's our cue to get the hell out of here," Leon announced.

"I couldn't agree more," Helena said, and we pushed our way through a side door in time to catch a few people crying for help on a monitor. They held up sign reading "HELP", hoping that someone, anyone, would be able to somehow help them.

"Oh, no," I mumbled under my breath just as we spotted a few zombies dragging their feet, approaching the unsuspecting survivors from behind. Just like when Chris, Piers, Audrey, and I couldn't help the BSAA agents Ada had infected in Edonia, the three of us had no way of warning these two men now.

Sure enough, the zombies ended up overwhelming the two men, grabbing them as the screen went static and then faded to black. "Let's go!" Leon cried, reaching for his pistol.

"Leon, it's too late!" Helena piped up, looking remorseful, "There's nothing we can do."

I glanced between the two of them, watching Helena's increasingly frantic expression and Leon's conflicted one, and I remembered Audrey mentioning how the agent always had a penchant for trying to save everyone, even her. That hadn't changed, it seemed. I still felt bad about those other two survivors, though. This was like a repeat of Edonia all over again. _Edonia, _I thought sadly_. _

"You're right," Leon eventually sighed, "Let's get the hell out of here."

* * *

It was eerie thinking about how quiet all the hallways were now when they had been jam packed with people earlier. There was dried blood on the walls, broken windows, overturned chairs, and abandoned papers littering the floors…along with more zombies.

"Liz's father said something about a fog before," Leon piped up as we entered a large lecture hall, "If this thing spread in gas form, then everyone who breathed it in got infected. Is that what you saw earlier, Alexis?" He faced me as Helena did the same.

I took a deep breath, feeling a slight burning in my chest from the virus. "Yeah," I confirmed, "That's what I saw. It was a dense, blue fog, and I was completely covered with it. So was everyone else in the auditorium. Almost everyone became infected by this weird-looking monster that was spreading the gas." Out of habit, I put my tongue on the roof of my mouth, which was still blue from when the BOW had bestowed its kiss of death on me.

"If that's true," Helena said, "Then everyone on campus must be infected. Didn't Hunnigan say it's already spread about three miles past the campus now?"

"Yeah," Leon replied, "We should keep moving so that we can get out of here, though. And get to Tall Oaks Cathedral." Helena nodded at him and ran ahead of us.

"Why do we need to go to the cathedral?" I asked, catching up to the Secret Service Agent as I remembered the comment she had made about it earlier.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Helena replied, "I need to show Leon something, and we're already falling behind. Now follow me!" She pushed a door open up ahead, raising her gun to take care of a few more zombies trying to ambush us.

While she and Leon did that, I just shook my head. The more I spoke with Helena Harper, the more I disliked her. Although Piers had acted standoffish as well when Audrey and I first met him, at least he had a valid reason for doing so. Helena, on the other hand, didn't know me at all, and again, I was getting the feeling that I was one of the reasons she and Leon had fallen behind. I was sure she cared about the fact that everyone was dying around her, but she definitely had an interesting way of showing it. I wasn't going to call her out on it, though. Whatever she needed to show us at the cathedral must have been really important for her to be acting this way.

Still, I hoped she wasn't going to be like this the entire time, and with that, I set off after the others with a sigh.


End file.
